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✂️ To remove part 🎬 To switch scenes 💔 To weaken spirit
to cut away

to cut away

1 7.7
To slowly take away someone's confidence or joy
  • phrasal verb
  • /kʌt əˈweɪ/
translation icon : desgastar
  • You start to cut away at the root of of where we nourish our souls.

The more we hear that stuff, the more it cuts away at our hearts, our minds, and our souls.

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Examples

  • To lose him would be to cut away a piece of her heart.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • In order to heal, she knew she must cut away the feelings of guilt that had haunted her for years.

  • If only his memories, or fantasies, or whatever they are, could be cut away from his brain and the wound cauterized.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • To get down to it, you have to cut away what is not true, what is inflated beside the point, excess ornament.

  • She felt like she had to cut away the painful memories of her past to move forward.

  • The therapist suggested that he cut away the negative thoughts that were weighing him down.

Synonyms

to sever
vsto cut away
100 5.6

To cut something completely away from a larger thing with a knife or tool

breaks emotional bonds completely, creating deep feelings of emptiness
to tear out
vsto cut away
24 4.8

To pull something out with force

lessens feelings through sudden forceful removal, causing strong emotional hurt
to chip away
vsto cut away
24 4.2

To make something smaller or weaker by removing small parts slowly

lessens inner feelings gradually, often causing emotional pain
cut off
vsto cut away
23 4.4

Separated by cutting from a larger thing

ends or blocks emotional support, leaving people feeling isolated or hurt
to tear away
vsto cut away
6 4.5

To pull something off quickly with force

removes inner comfort violently, leaving a person empty and in pain
to whittle away
vsto cut away
3 5.9

To make something smaller gradually by cutting or wearing it away

lessens feelings or spirit slowly, producing emptiness or pain

Antonyms

to enhance
424 4.0

Make something better or more attractive

to nurture
155 3.5

To care for and encourage someone or something to grow

How Detached

numb
62 4.1
to cut away
1 7.7
to harden
57 3.9

Surface Forms

cut away infinitive
cut away past
cut away past participle
cutting away present participle
cuts away third person singular

Morphology

cut + away

The meaning is directly compositional: 'cut' (remove/reduce) combined with the particle 'away' (off/away from) yields the sense of removing or lessening something. This verb+particle pattern is standard in English and applies to tangible and intangible items, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

Cut away uses the image of slowly cutting pieces off a whole thing. Because the act of cutting away takes parts away little by little, the phrase came to mean 'to lessen or remove feelings or hope'.