cutoff
Americannoun
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cutoffs
plural
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an act or instance of cutting off.
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something that cuts off.
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a road, passage, etc., that leaves another, usually providing a shortcut.
Let's take the cutoff to Baltimore.
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a new and shorter channel formed in a river by the water cutting across a bend in its course.
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a point, time, or stage serving as the limit beyond which something is no longer effective, applicable, or possible.
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cutoffs, Also cut-offs shorts made by cutting the legs off a pair of trousers, especially jeans, above the knees and often leaving the cut edges ragged.
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Accounting. a selected point at which records are considered complete for the purpose of settling accounts, taking inventory, etc.
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Baseball. an infielder's interception of a ball thrown from the outfield in order to relay it to home plate or keep a base runner from advancing.
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Machinery. arrest of the steam moving the pistons of an engine, usually occurring before the completion of a stroke.
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Electronics. (in a vacuum tube) the minimum grid potential preventing an anode current.
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Rocketry. the termination of propulsion, either by shutting off the propellant flow or by stopping the combustion of the propellant.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cutoff
First recorded in 1735–45; noun use of verb phrase cut off
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
For researchers, that would reduce the risk of another funding cutoff disrupting their work while the broader legal battle continues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Europe is now more exposed to international competition for LNG cargoes than to a direct supply cutoff.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Much of the winter precipitation that reaches this part of Chile is associated with cutoff lows, low-pressure systems that separate from the jet stream and can sometimes move into northern Chile.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 1, 2026
What has been especially difficult is that we don’t really know exactly what was said or done that resulted in what appears to be a complete cutoff in communication.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
He was living on a slightly tumbledown horse farm in northern Missouri, sitting on the back porch in jeans and a cutoff T- shirt.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
But the wholesale pathologizing of imperfect, yet loving, parents has created an epidemic of unnecessary cutoffs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
TikTok has implemented 60-minute daily screen time limits for users under 18 and notification cutoffs based on age groups.
From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026
Given increases in the average human lifespan, the existing age cutoffs that presume a 50-year-old who can perform only sedentary work is disabled while a 49-year-old is not represent loose standards that need modernization.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2025
The fire burned more than 2,600 acres and it caused widespread evacuations and power cutoffs, prompting Van Dyke to flee his home, Variety reported.
From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2024
I asked her if that was in the dress code, not to be a smart aleck but because I didn’t remember seeing cutoffs listed.
From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
