to cut back
169
2.9
- phrasal verb
- /kʌt bæk/
:
recortar
- I'm being smart, I'm cutting back, I'm downsizing.
- cut back on spending
- cut back on production
- cut back on aid
ESPN is, is cutting back salaries and Sage still was highly paid.
- ESPN is, is cutting back salaries and Sage still was highly paid.
- So that is a great way to cut back sugar.
- People like him who are telling everyone to cut back costs.
- When people lose their jobs, earnings go down, people cut back.
- Like, how much have we really, you know, cut back?
- And so you need to really cut back and be frugal for whatever frugal means to you.
- OK, I thought you were really trying to cut back.
- There's, there's sort of algorithms and formulas for how much you would need to cut back to lose a pound of weight.
- And then we may in our in exuberance for trying to reduce blood pressure, we may have cut way too back, way back on salt, maybe too much.
- Or you may, you may say, well, I'll cut back on the PNA or I'll, you know, and it's just a game of how far can I cut back and still be able to survive?
- But if you do, let's if you are using, let's help you cut back or quit.
Examples
-
Revenue problems have forced us to cut back on equipment.
-
As a result of the finding, both farmers cut back significantly on irrigation.
Academic text (2000) -
People like him who are telling everyone to cut back costs.
-
You see, in these hard times, we cut back on so many things.
-
In fact, they talked about how we should cut back and lay off.
Academic text (1996) -
A little background: Texas, like a lot of states, is cutting back on public education funding.
Academic text (2011) -
As free credit and government subsidies dried up, industrial plants began to cut back on production.
Academic text (1991) -
And as U.S. Consumers cut back on spending, Chinese manufacturers see sales plummet.
-
After my father's death, my mother cut back on the festivities for emotional as well as financial reasons.
Fiction book (2000) -
To save money, we need to cut back on unnecessary expenses.
Synonyms
∞
2.3
To remove parts or make something shorter, for example text
∞
1.6
To make something smaller in amount, size, or number
361
3.1
Limit how much people can use or access something
95
2.6
Cut something to make it smaller or neater
89
3.0
Make an amount or level lower
75
3.2
Use less of something to save money or be healthier
73
3.5
To limit or control something to stop it getting worse
65
2.7
To make something smaller in amount or number
52
6.3
To make something shorter or less than planned
30
3.0
To spend less money to save or make more money
18
3.9
Make a price or amount a little smaller
14
4.1
Make something, like a taste, sound, or plan, less strong
10
5.1
To make a list or group smaller by removing items over time
9
4.4
Make something smaller by removing parts you do not need
8
4.1
Make something smaller, like a product or living space
5
8.1
To reduce spending because of money problems
4
4.2
To cut the amount of money a person or group uses by a lot
3
3.4
To make something smaller by cutting or removing parts
1
4.3
Make something smaller or cheaper to save money
1
3.4
Make a thing smaller by cutting or removing parts
1
4.3
To spend less money to save or avoid debt
To cut spending by removing unnecessary costs from a budget
Antonyms
How Reduced
Surface Forms
Morphology
cut + back
The sense 'to return to an earlier scene' is partially inferable because 'back' signals returning and 'cut' can mean change or move (as in editing 'cut to'), so a learner who knows the constituents could plausibly guess a switch back. However, the specific film-editing usage of 'cut' (and the phrasal pattern 'cut back to') is somewhat specialized and not fully predictable at B1 without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Cut back comes from the simple image of cut and back: imagine cutting off the back part of a loaf or a large bill to make it smaller. That's why it now means 'to reduce' the amount, size, or cost of something.