clipped
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of clipped
Explanation
Use the adjective clipped for things that are cut very short — or for things that sound that way. "A clipped lawn is better for croquet," she announced in clipped tones. While you can use clipped where you'd use words like "shorn" or "trimmed," it's more common for this adjective to describe a particular way of speaking. If someone talks in a slightly irritated, very direct way, using sharp, short sounds, their speech is clipped. You can hear the difference between your math teacher's laid back "Hey kids, have a seat!" and your gym teacher's clipped command, "Take a knee. Now."
Vocabulary lists containing clipped
"Caged Bird" by Maya Angelou
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Novel Study: Fences, Act 2
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The Brightwood Code
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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.
They’d seen lots of video podcasts being clipped and reposted on social media and thought: Could you make a show that was only clips?
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
This means the conversion itself might be taxed at your ordinary rate, while your portfolio income quietly gets clipped by an extra 3.8%.
From MarketWatch • May 8, 2026
A truck driver has been lightly injured after a United Airlines plane clipped his vehicle and a streetlight as it approached Newark Airport in New Jersey on Sunday.
From BBC • May 4, 2026
“It was tricky. I was moving fast, clipped the eighth hurdler and lost my balance. That’s never happened to me before.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
“Her son, she said, who was in the army. How friendly such things make strangers feel, don’t they? She talked away all the time the man clipped, and diverted my mind nicely.”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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.
