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Glite Dictionary
to slash spending

to slash spending

4 4.2
To cut the amount of money a person or group uses by a lot
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : reducir gastos
  • Most of those countries have slashed their military spending, in some cases even more than the United States, since the end of the Cold War.
  • slash government spending
  • slash federal spending
  • Republicans will slash spending

For the US to get back on track, they would have to slash spending.

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Examples

  • The poll comes as Republican lawmakers, many elected on promises to slash federal spending, have focused mostly so far on cuts to non-defense discretionary programs.

    Blog text (4)

  • Investors also took issue with European leaders' focus on slashing government spending; they said that there hasn't been enough focus on growing economies.

    Blog text (17)

  • The problem is that neither side really wants to slash spending, regulations, or the size of government.

    Blog text (20)

  • While debate over the federal budget remains deadlocked, state and local governments have been busy slashing spending.

    Blog text (21)

  • Spain, Portugal, and Greece have all slashed spending on pensions, public sector wages, hospitals, and schools.

    Blog text (16)

  • Because of the slump in oil prices in late 1993 and a slow recovery, Saudi Arabia slashed its spending by 19 percent in 1994 to achieve a balanced budget.

    Academic text (1995)

  • The budget deficit still consumes a significant portion of GDP due to heavy defense spending and debt repayment, and an inability to slash spending will threaten future loans from international lenders.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The government announced plans to slash spending on unnecessary projects to save money.

  • To address the budget deficit, officials decided to slash spending on social programs this year.

  • In order to balance the budget, the committee will slash spending across various departments.

Synonyms

to cut back
vsto slash spending
169 2.9

To reduce how much you buy and use to save money and be healthier

is a deliberate policy that lowers money use dramatically rather than mildly
to cut costs
vsto slash spending
30 3.0

To spend less money to save or make more money

is a deliberate large scale plan to lower money use sharply
to retrench
vsto slash spending
  • Formal
5 8.1

To reduce spending because of money problems

is a planned drastic strategy that acts regardless of temporary hardship
to curtail spending
vsto slash spending
1 4.3

To spend less money to save or avoid debt

is a broad deliberate strategy aiming for sharp money use reductions
to tighten the purse strings
vsto slash spending
  • Informal
1 5.8

To spend less money and control how money is used

is a deliberate policy that reduces money use more sharply than control alone
to prune the budget
vsto slash spending
4.9

To cut spending by removing unnecessary costs from a budget

is a large deliberate policy that reduces money use across the board

Antonyms

to bump up the budget
3.9

To increase the money available for a project or plan

How Much

to slash spending
4 4.2
spending cut
79 3.3

Surface Forms

slash spending infinitive
slashed spending past
slashed spending past participle
slashing spending present participle
slashes spending third person singular

Morphology

slash + spending

The meaning 'to drastically reduce spending' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'slash' (to cut or reduce drastically) with 'spending' (expenditures), so the overall sense is predictable from the parts. The metaphorical use of 'slash' to mean 'cut back' is common in English and cross-linguistically familiar in budget contexts, making this immediately intelligible to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Slash spending comes from the image of someone using a big knife to cut away part of a pile of money: slash means to cut and spending is the money you use. That's why it now means 'to reduce spending a lot'.