cutaway
Americannoun
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Also called cutaway coat. a man's formal daytime coat having the front portion of the skirt cut away from the waist so as to curve or slope to the tails at the back.
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Movies, Television.
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a switch from one scene to another for showing simultaneous or related action, creating suspense, etc.
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Also called cutaway shot. a shot that abruptly introduces content, scenery, etc., away from the central action.
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an illustration or scale model having the outer section removed to display the interior.
adjective
noun
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a man's coat cut diagonally from the front waist to the back of the knees
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a drawing or model of a machine, engine, etc, in which part of the casing is omitted to reveal the workings
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( as modifier )
a cutaway model
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films television a shot separate from the main action of a scene, to emphasize something or to show simultaneous events
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cutaway
First recorded in 1835–45; adj., noun use of verb phrase cut away
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:
They’re loaded with practical effects and jokes that cost thousands of dollars to produce for a five-second cutaway scene.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
As for the clapping paws, Pizzello said a member of the crew was also helping make that memorable cutaway happen.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2024
In their mind, every TV cutaway, photograph or mention of Swift's name diverts praise from Mahomes, the NFL's offensive player of the year Christian McCaffrey and the rest of the stars on the field.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2024
The Stanford Law professors’ hand gestures and facial expressions played prominently into journalists’ recounts of the proceedings, offering the real-life version of the cutaway shot integral to any courtroom TV show.
From Slate ● Nov. 7, 2023
That corner of their building with the crack had actually fallen off, exposing a cutaway section not only of their old back bedroom, but their living room too.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
One of the director’s frequent visual cutaways is to a knight-outfitted dummy the children build on a picturesque spot, lashed to a stake.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
Among this year's melodramatic cutaways to contestants supposedly in their hotel rooms was a clip of Charlotte reading a "Learn Welsh" book, priest Lisa praying and Keith practising his martial arts.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2025
I have to admit, some of my favorite shots were the cutaways to Melania Trump and Usha Vance, whose body language was revealing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2024
A joke during the show about “Barbie” garnered a stone-faced reaction from star Ryan Gosling, and Taylor Swift grimaced at a joke about the abundance of NFL cutaways to her in stadium stands.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 8, 2024
Had one of those long cutaways that dallied with my ankles; they hadn't gone out in Gulf City.
From The Lash by Lyman, Olin L.
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.
