1
as in to shave
to make (something) shorter or smaller with the use of a cutting instrument
we need to cut back the bushes a bit so that the house number is visible from the street
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to shorten
to make less in extent or duration
cut back the meeting so everyone could leave early for the long weekend
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in curtailed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in curtailment
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cut back
Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Mar. 2025
At the same time, Western governments are cutting back on aid spending, in part to use in defense budgets.
—arkansasonline.com, 18 Mar. 2025
Faisal Kutty, Newsweek, 10 Mar. 2025
The cutbacks could have severe, sweeping economic consequences for American farmers and consumers alike.
—Suzy Khimm, NBC News, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cut back
Verb
The United States, Britain, and the European Union have cut back donations.
—Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Mar. 2025
At the same time, Western governments are cutting back on aid spending, in part to use in defense budgets.
—arkansasonline.com, 18 Mar. 2025
Noun
These government efficiency measures reflect a wider context of fiscal tightening that affects various federal programs, including Social Security.
O'Malley highlighted the consequences of these cutbacks in a series of X (formerly Twitter) posts on Friday.
—Faisal Kutty, Newsweek, 10 Mar. 2025
The cutbacks could have severe, sweeping economic consequences for American farmers and consumers alike.
—Suzy Khimm, NBC News, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cut back
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cut back
Verb
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One hirsute San Francisco regular, Richard, kept changing his hair and shaving his face over the course of the shoot.—
Anne Thompson,
IndieWire,
14 Mar. 2025
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If needed, lightly holding your skin taut should be enough to shave the area without excessively stretching or pulling at it.—
Cristina Mutchler,
Verywell Health,
14 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Over the years, the Legislature also imposed an expiration date for petition signatures and then shortened its lifespan from eight years to four years to two years.—
Jeffrey Schweers,
Orlando Sentinel,
16 Mar. 2025
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Employees must be given 60 days' notice of their end date, unless OPM grants a waiver to shorten that period to 30 days.—
Stephen Fowler,
NPR,
15 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Moreover, Ontario’s electricity grid frequently produces surplus power; export markets are essential to avoid costly waste or curtailment.—
Ali Hoss,
Forbes,
13 Mar. 2025
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Musk has already moved forward with major cuts, including sweeping workforce reductions, the curtailment of government operations and purges of entire agencies.—
Nathan Meyers,
The Conversation,
11 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Within the scheme’s first week, traffic had fallen by 7.5%, with 273,000 fewer cars entering Manhattan’s central business district, and travel times on inbound river crossings had been cut by more than a third, leading to faster bus journeys.—
Laurie Winkless,
Forbes,
12 Mar. 2025
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The bill could also force Washington, D.C., to cut $1.1 billion in spending, affecting public safety and education.—
Hannah Parry,
Newsweek,
11 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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An abbreviated Season 7 will cap The Conners’ run at 112 episodes.—
Ryan Schwartz,
TVLine,
27 Dec. 2024
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The first is one The Acolyte already tackled, albeit in an abbreviated way: What if the Jedi weren’t always virtuous, what if people with Force abilities aren’t so easily slotted into good or evil, and what if this society’s enshrinement of them is a massive cover-up?—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
3 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Traders are assigning virtually no probability of a cut at next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting and only about a 1-in-4 chance of a reduction in May, according to CME Group calculations.—
Jeff Cox,
CNBC,
13 Mar. 2025
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Dudek acknowledged that at least 7,000 SSA employees are slated to lose their jobs, while the agency is undergoing structural consolidation, including the reduction of 10 regional offices to four and the termination of multiple field office leases.—
Dan Cody,
Newsweek,
13 Mar. 2025
Verb
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The ornithology curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County placed handfuls of feathers between two small screens and clipped them together with zip ties.—
Corinne Purtill,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Mar. 2025
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On Monday, days after the Texas outbreak killed an unvaccinated child, Mr. Cassidy, the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, was clipping down a Capitol corridor when he was asked about Mr. Kennedy.—
Sheryl Gay Stolberg,
New York Times,
6 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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That's the abridged version of the tricky nature of prosecuting a murder case without a body.—
Fox News,
Fox News,
17 Jan. 2023
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On Friday, Burrows, R-Lubbock, made public his request to Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee for an abridged video from a school hallway camera to be released.—
Dallas News,
Dallas News,
11 July 2022
Cite this Entry
“Cut back.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cut%20back. Accessed 23 Mar. 2025.
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