cutback

[ kuht-bak ]

noun

1. a reduction in rate, quantity, etc.:

   a cutback in production.

2. a return in the course of a story, motion picture, etc., to earlier events.
3. Football. a play in which the ball-carrier abruptly reverses direction, especially by starting to make an end run and then turning suddenly to run toward the middle of the line.
4. a maneuver in surfing of heading the surfboard back toward a wave's crest.

cutback

/ ˈkʌtˌbæk /

noun

1. a decrease or reduction
2. See flashback
   another word (esp US) for flashback

verb

1. tr to shorten by cutting off the end; prune
2. whenintr, foll by on to reduce or make a reduction (in)
3. intr (in films) to show an event that took place earlier in the narrative; flash back

Word History and Origins

Origin of cutback¹

First recorded in 1895–1900; noun use of verb phrase cut back

Example Sentences

Indeed, city leaders recently asked city departments to outline cutbacks that could help close the city’s massive budget gap.

From Voice of San Diego

More than 60 local newsrooms shuttered over the course of 2020, while others have endured layoffs, furloughs and other cutbacks, according to journalism research organization Poynter.

From Time

He suspects that the company’s warning to employees could merely serve as a pretext for further cutbacks at Cumulus’s many stations.

From Washington Post

Potential cutbacks will soon officially be on the table as the city stares down a projected $124 million deficit for the upcoming budget year.

From Voice of San Diego

This year, that may be even more the case if advertisers may have more than the usual amount of money carrying over from cutbacks in the spring and summer.

From Digiday

I'm not sure how some lower-end retail workers are going to survive the cutback.

From The Daily Beast

In my view, this small cutback on the president's power will not prove that consequential.

From The Daily Beast

In the throes of cutback after cutback, the content being presented is suffering.

From The Daily Beast

I always thought S'Bucks was a ripoff anyway, so that's a cutback that I really don't mind at all.

From The Daily Beast

Related Words

• belt-tightening
• decline
• reduction
• reversal