The Phrasal Verb 'Cut Down' Explained
- Phrasal Verbs Explained
- Sep 19, 2025
- 9 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'cut down' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native.
How well do you know the phrasal verb 'cut down'? Did you know that in modern English it has at least 3 different meanings and applications? In this post, I will be explaining these different meanings and giving you lots of example sentences of each one to show you how the kinds of contexts that they are used in. So, without further ado, let's make a start....
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
CUT DOWN: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 3 |
Past tense forms | Cut down / Cut down |
Separable? | Sometimes |
The phrasal verb 'cut down' is formed by combining the verb 'to cut' with the prepositional particle 'down' and so before we take a look at 'cut down', let's first briefly consider the meanings of these words on their own.
I am sure that you are already familiar with the super common verb 'to cut', which is one of those annoying and confusing irregular verbs that does not change its form in the past tenses. The main idea of the verb 'to cut' is to use something sharp like a knife or scissors to break a surface or separate something. In addition, it can also be used to mean to reduce, to stop or to end something.
My hairdresser cuts my hair once a month.
I cut myself whilst I was chopping onions.
Somebody has cut the telephone cable.
My hours at work have been cut and now I am only working three days a week.
The government is looking to cut the benefits for many people.
As you will know, the word 'down' has many different meanings and uses in English, many of which are to describe a downward movement or decrease of some sort. In phrasal verb constructions, 'down' can often indicate these ideas as well as ideas like defeat or destruction (break down) or controlling (calm down), among others.
So, now that we have considered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'cut down'....
MEANING 1: To make something fall to the ground by cutting it
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To fell, to chop down |
Separable? | Yes |
Our first application of the phrasal verb 'cut down' is more or less a literal combination of the meanings of the two words and is 'to make something fall to the ground by cutting it'.
Nouns commonly used with this application.....
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You will notice that the majority of the nouns in the list above are for plants and that is because this application is overwhelmingly used with our green-leaved friends and in particular, trees.
If you cut something down, you use a sharp implement like an axe or a chainsaw and cut through the base or lower part of it, causing it to fall to the ground. Note that we only tend to use this when the plant or structure is tall and will fall over and hit the ground once it has been cut.
On a grammatical note, this is a separable application and you can use 'cut a tree down' and 'cut down a tree', without any change in the meaning.
The workers cut the old oak tree down to clear space for the new road.
Before the storm arrived, several trees were cut down to prevent them from falling on houses.
The farmer cut down the tall grass with his scythe.
The council had to cut down the damaged telephone pole after the accident.
The lumberjacks carefully cut down the pine trees to use them for timber.
The villagers were forced cut down the sacred palm trees to build huts.
The soldiers were ordered to cut the enemy’s flagpole down.
After weeks of work, they finally cut the massive cedar tree down.
BONUS: THE SYCAMORE GAP TREEThere was a story in the UK national news a couple of years ago about a famous tree called the Sycamore Gap tree, which was found in the North of England near to the Scottish border. The tree was situated in the middle of a dip in the landscape between two small hills, creating a beautiful sight and landmark and it was popular with tourists and was even used in Hollywood movies. Sadly, a couple of mindless drunken idiots decided to cut the tree down one night for no apparent reason, which was so sad. There is a picture of the tree above and if you want to learn more and see how this application of 'cut down' is used, check out this link.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-72c404c5-35f2-4d43-bed1-1f5f1f7208dc |
MEANING 2: To reduce something
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To reduce, to cut back (on), to decrease, to lower |
Separable? | No |
The second of our three meanings of the phrasal verb 'cut down' is the most commonly used in everyday English and means 'to reduce something'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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There are a few different variations of this second application of 'cut down', however the core meaning of all them is to reduce or lower the amount, size or frequency of something.
This may be something physical that you need to reduce the size of by cutting it. This would be something that you may often hear with jobs that require skilled trades like carpenters or plumbers, or even DIY. For example if you are trying to install a new shelf in your kitchen and the shelf is too big for the space, you may need to cut it down with an appropriate tool so that it fits. Furthermore, it is common to cut a new carpet down to the correct size before laying it in a room.
The carpenter cut down the table legs in order to make it shorter.
Maggie asked the tailor to cut her dress down so it would fit better.
The plumbers cut down the pipe to the right length for installation.
Joe the mechanic cut the metal rod down to the right size to fit inside the machine.
Additionally, this application of 'cut down' is also a great one to talk about when you want to reduce the amount of something in general. This may be in reference to how much money you spend or the level of something measurable like pollution or crime.
Note that when we follow 'cut down' with a noun or a gerund here, we often add the additional preposition 'on' to link the noun to the phrasal verb. The addition of 'on' does not affect the meaning.
The company plans to cut down production costs this year.
We need to cut down our expenses if we want to save for a vacation.
The government is working to cut down pollution in big cities.
The new police commissioner has vowed to cut down on crime in big cities over the next 5 years.
Moreover, if you want to talk about reducing the frequency that you do something like a habit or an activity, you can use 'cut down' to express this too. This one is frequently heard in everyday English since cutting down and reducing our intake of certain things is often done to improve our health and life in general. This is also one that you will hear when people talk about going on a diet or trying to lose weight.
I’ve been trying to cut down on how often I eat fast food.
To lose weight, Shelley is trying to cut down the amount of sugar in her diet.
Ben promised to cut down his use of plastic bags.
The doctor told Jeanette to cut down on drinking coffee during the day.
You should cut down your spending on clothes if you want to save money.
They are trying to cut down the amount of paper used in the office.
Farmers were encouraged to cut down their use of chemical fertilisers.
I need to cut down on checking my phone every few minutes; I'm addicted!
The teacher advised the students to cut down on careless errors in their writing.
We’re going to try and cut down on unnecessary trips to the supermarket.
Lastly, it is also possible to use the construction 'to cut something down to' when you want to specify the desired reduced size, level or frequency of something once you have cut it down. For example, you may cut down how many cigarettes you smoke from 20 to 10 a day, or you could cut down how often you go on social media to just once per day.
One example that can often be heard here is in relation to writing and documents when there are too may words and you need to reduce the amount, so you may need to cut the document down to a maximum of 500 or 1000 words for example.
The article was cut down to 1000 words for the magazine.
The Prime Minister's speech was cut down to just five minutes because of time limits.
The company’s cut their budget down to $1 million.
The team was cut down to only ten players after two were injured.
The movie direct had to cut the movie length down to two hours for the final release.
MEANING 3: To kill someone
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Rare |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To kill, to slay, to murder, to slaughter, to strike down |
Separable? | Yes |
Our third and final meaning of the phrasal verb 'cut down' is the rarest of the three and means 'to kill someone'.
Typically, we use 'to cut someone down' when a person is killed by a weapon such as a gun or knife or by a disease. It is quite a literary and formal usage and one that you probably would not use in everyday speech talking with your friends and family.
Personally, it reminds of when people are killed in battles, particularly those historical ones when people fought with swords and shields. As you can see from the examples below, this is often used in the passive voice, told from the perspective of the victim.
The knight was cut down in battle before he could raise his sword.
Several soldiers were cut down by enemy fire.
Sir Robert cut down all of the soldiers who tried to attack him and held the line by himself.
Innocent civilians were cut down during the attack.
The merchant was cut down by an assassin’s blade in the dark alley.
The hero's father was tragically cut down in the prime of his life, leaving him an orphan.
Many young men were sadly cut down on the front lines of the war.
You should note that we also have an expression 'to be cut down in your prime' which is used to talk about when a person is killed at a young age before they are able to reach their full potential.
The young woman was a brilliant scientist, cut down in her prime before completing her research.
The budding athlete was cut down in his prime by a sudden illness and he never got to fulfil his dream of competing in the Olympic Games.
History is full of leaders who were cut down in their prime, leaving their work unfinished.
BONUS: The idiom 'to cut somebody down to size'
Let's finish the post with a little idiom featuring 'cut down', which is 'to cut somebody down to size'. This expression is one that we can use to describe those really satisfying moments when a person who thinks that they are very important or successful is made to realise that they are not as important or successful as they think. As you can probably imagine, this one is used for people who are arrogant and overconfident and need a reality check!
Henrietta thought she was the smartest person in the room, but the professor’s tough question cut her down to size.
The critics cut the actor down to size with harsh reviews of his latest film.
The arrogant player was finally cut down to size when the rookie outperformed him and scored more goals than him.
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'cut down'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'cut down'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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THE END
Outstanding!
Thanks