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Glite Dictionary
to cut in front of

to cut in front of

10 4.0
To move suddenly and rudely in front of someone while waiting or driving
  • phrasal verb
: meterse delante de
  • I followed, but a third grader cut in front of me.
  • cut in front of a car
  • cut in front of the line
  • cut in front of that driver

So then Kurt goes over into the shoulder and then Pat and then cuts in front of him.

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Examples

  • Enrique cuts in front of her in line for the water fountain.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The woman who cut in front of me in line was the keynote speaker.

    Blog text (26)

  • And she wanted to cut in front of me in line.

    Forever Lulu (2000)

  • You just cut in front of us.

    Vacation (2015)

  • I think I must have cut in front of them or something.

    When Strangers Appear (2001)

  • Can we cut in front of you?

    Trust the Man (2005)

  • I'm angry because these two people cut in front of me, and everyone is letting them get away with it.

    Friends with Money (2006)

  • As they approached Kalinin Prospect, a tour bus tried to cut in front of Jaak.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • A police motorcyclist cuts in front of James and slows to a halt, signaling him to wait and allow the ambulance to pass.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I was waiting in line when someone suddenly cut in front of me, which was really rude.

Synonyms

to cut in line
vsto cut in front of
  • US
11 3.8

Move ahead of people in a line without waiting for your turn

is similar but also occurs while driving, not only in queues
to cut in
vsto cut in front of
2 4.6

Move suddenly in front of another vehicle leaving little space

is a sudden rude move that also happens when people wait in line

Antonyms

wait
177 1.0

A period of time spent staying in one place expecting someone or something

to yield
13 4.4

To move aside to let someone or something pass

How Rude

to cut in front of
10 4.0
to butt in
  • Informal
26 4.4

Surface Forms

cut in front of infinitive
cut in front of past
cut in front of past participle
cutting in front of present participle
cuts in front of third person singular

Morphology

cut + in + front + of

The meaning 'to suddenly move into a position ahead of someone' follows straightforwardly from combining 'cut' (to move across quickly) with the spatial phrase 'in front of' (ahead of someone). This motion-plus-location composition is cross-linguistically common and therefore a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Cut in front of comes from a simple picture: someone suddenly cuts across the space and moves into the front of a line or road, like slicing into the gap. So, cut in front of means 'to move ahead of someone quickly and often rudely', whether in traffic or in a queue.