Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to chop down

to chop down

12 2.1
To cut through the trunk of a tree so it falls
  • phrasal verb
  • /tʃɑp daʊn/
translation icon : talar
  • He decided to chop down the large oak tree in his backyard to make space for a garden.
  • chop down trees

God I love how much it cost to chop down one single tree.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • You chopped down the town Christmas tree.

    Deck the Halls (2006)

  • In 1957, the county, in an attempt to enlarge the beach, chopped down 100 trees and gouged out the slope above the beach.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Imagine having to chop down a tree and start a fire just to make breakfast.

    Delirium (2018)

  • I'm going to find a tree to chop down.

    Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

  • Many people chop down trees and make boats.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Oh excellent, well, give me five minutes, I'll pop out, I'll chop down a pine tree.

    Lost at Christmas (2020)

  • And this, all this wood here, guys, this lovely wood is a tree that Dave actually chopped down from one mile over there.

  • We are here to chop down the tall tree, the Oak of Ages, to make some nice kindling for our fires.

  • The Once-ler proceeds to chop down all of the Truffula Trees for Thneeds.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Next, they had to make the boards for the coop from the trees they had chopped down with axes and handsaws.

    Fiction book (2002)

Synonyms

to cut down
vsto chop down
49 1.9

To make a tree or plant fall by cutting it at the base

emphasizes severing fully through the trunk to make it fall
to coppice
vsto chop down
1 8.4

To cut trees or bushes to the ground regularly so new shoots grow

focuses on making a tree fall rather than encouraging regrowth

Antonyms

to grow
∞ 1.0

Become larger or more physically mature

to plant
361 1.0

To put seeds or young plants into the soil so they grow

How Fully Cut

to fell
16 3.3
to chop down
12 2.1
to cut
∞ 1.0
to trim
95 2.6

Surface Forms

chop down infinitive
chopped down past
chopped down past participle
chopping down present participle
chops down third person singular

Morphology

chop + down

The meaning 'to cut through the trunk so that it falls' is directly and transparently derived from 'chop' (to cut or strike) combined with the particle 'down' indicating bringing something to a lower position or felling. This literal action + direction composition is common cross-linguistically and follows a standard English verb+particle pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

Chop down comes from the real action of cutting a tree at its base. Woodcutters would chop into the trunk until the tree fell down, so the phrase now means 'to cut through a tree or plant so it falls'.