short-cut
verb (used with object)
to cause to be shortened by the use of a shortcut.
short-cut
American
[shawrt-kuht]
/ ˈʃɔrtˌkʌt /
verb (used with object)
short-cut,
short-cutting
verb (used without object)
short-cut,
short-cutting
short cut
British
noun
-
a route that is shorter than the usual one
-
a means of saving time or effort
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of short-cut
First recorded in 1560–70
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:
"You can't really short-cut that, you build trust and relationships over time, as you know, But every day's been exciting, I literally wake up with excitement every day."
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2025
Let’s try the Expedia plug-in as a short-cut.
From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2023
I wouldn't recommend serving with a short-cut pasta, though.
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2022
“Let’s see if we can short-cut that time as much as possible and make Aston Martin successful next season.”
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2022
Tonsures, pigtails, head completely shaved but for a single forelock, long sides drawn into a queue with a raffish short-cut roach in the middle—all of it was prideful and abhorrent to the Pilgrims.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Taking a short cut on the long walk to school, she stumbles on a pond in a wooded area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2025
You can buy it ready made in a jar or even a box, off the grocery store shelf or use an equally accessible powdered packet as a short cut.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2025
Mike McKie, of Bayleaf, a firm of "specialists in royal honours", says his service provides "administration and not a short cut" for awards, aimed at busy people with too little time for the honours process.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2023
“There are times when people react and think that government actions can be a short cut to getting things done,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 8, 2023
Knowing that the road was forbidden to him, because of his poor sight and habit of walking stolidly in the middle, he had found a short cut across the intervening fields.
From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford
So you can do it my short-cutting home cook's way, just know that when you do, a small part of a hard-working pastry chef's soul will die along with your sloppy swirls.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2023
It’s full of technologists who grow crops in buildings instead of outdoors, short-cutting the need to prematurely harvest produce for a bumpy ride often thousands of miles to consumers in colder climes.
From Washington Times ● May 10, 2018
"The process will continue for some months. The United States won't be short-cutting their security or health checks," said Turnbull.
From Reuters ● Nov. 13, 2016
And they warn that short-cutting the traditional clinical-trial process could make it more difficult to tell whether GM604 really works.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 3, 2015
Amid the confusion, irregular trodden paths led, short-cutting, toward the clattering, grinding munition plants.
From The Sturdy Oak A composite Novel of American Politics by fourteen American authors by Elizabeth Garver Jordan
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.
