cut to the quick

1. Deeply wound or distress, as in His criticism cut her to the quick. This phrase uses the quick in the sense of a vital or a very sensitive part of the body, such as under the fingernails. It also appeared in such older locutions as touched to the quick, for “deeply affected,” and stung to the quick, for “wounded, distressed,” both dating from the early 1500s. The current expression was considered a cliché from about 1850 on.

Example Sentences

Likewise, a later debate about abortion vs. abandonment cuts to the quick for the characters — as when someone asks: which is less of a sin?

From Salon

But he was cut to the quick by the official discharge.

From Literature

Taylor Gilbert, the founder and co-artistic director of the Road Theatre Company, says she was taken with how the story “cuts to the quick of relevant issues with humor and heart.”

From Los Angeles Times

These are brave films that cut to the quick of alcoholism’s cost.

From New York Times

Hall’s adaptation cuts to the quick of the novel and transfers the shifting, unsettling quality of Larsen’s text back onto the viewer’s shoulders.

From New York Times

Related Words

• annoy 
• antagonize 
• bother 
• chagrin 
• disappoint 
• disgust 
• dissatisfy 
• enrage 
• exasperate 
• frustrate 
• gall 
• incense 
• irk 
• irritate 
• offend 
• perplex 
• rile 
• upset 
• vex