cutthroat
Americannoun
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cutthroats
plural
adjective
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ruthless.
cutthroat competition.
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pertaining to a game, as of cards, in which each of three or more persons acts and scores as an individual.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cutthroat
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:
A large domestic market and cutthroat competition helped accelerate China’s industrial upgrading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Challenging conditions in China -- where a sluggish economy and cutthroat competition have hit automakers -- drove the result, BMW said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Ahead of the Paraguay game, he ran cutthroat training matches in which he simply stopped calling fouls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Prepubescent athletes have personal trainers, agents and cutthroat recruiting plans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
On top of that, I gotta be just as cutthroat, and I better not show weakness.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
Screenwriter Tony Gilroy, making his directorial debut, wisely subverts the native charisma of star George Clooney, whose portrayal of a man coming undone among Manhattan cutthroats stands as the finest of his career.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 17, 2018
In the last period of real cavalry warfare, Benya enrolls in a cavalry battalion with a crew of cutthroats and Cossacks who encounter the Italians.
From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2018
The boy learned to bait fish with grasshoppers, catch cutthroats and ride a “terrible” horse named Pinkie, who dumped him on the ground.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 15, 2015
Some fall Chinook and sea run cutthroats are also being caught.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 21, 2014
To cock it on his head and expect vagabonds and cutthroats to fall to their knees?
From "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
