AAAmerican Accent US

cut down

Separable

The object can go before or after the particle — but a pronoun MUST go in the middle: “clean it up”, never “clean up it”.

How to say it

Stress the particle, not the verb: cut DOWN. Saying “CUT down” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.

Do not release the /t/. Before the consonant of “down” the stop is held and swallowed rather than popped — the same unreleased-stop move as in hot dog. One smooth unit: “cut down”.

2 meanings

  1. 1

    To reduce the amount of something.

    • “We've had to cut down the guest list.”
    • “The article was cut down to eight hundred words.”

    Similar: reduce, trim

  2. 2

    To fell a tree.

    • “They cut down the oak that had stood there for a century.”

    Similar: fell, chop down

Don’t confuse it with

cut backTo reduce spending or activity.

Cut DOWN is the general reducer. Cut BACK is preferred for budgets and spending.

The particle logic

down

Something decreases, collapses, settles, or gets recorded.

Listen + practice

Hear “cut down” spoken naturally

Pick a sentence to record

Read the sentence aloud. Keep the stress on the particle and run the two words together — we’ll score every sound and flag what to work on.

Click to record

More CUT phrasal verbs

Compare the whole family →

cut down on

To consume less of something.

cut back

To reduce spending or activity.

cut off

To disconnect a supply or a service.

cut out

To remove a section by cutting.

cut in

To interrupt a conversation.

cut up

To cut something into many pieces.

cut through

To take a shorter route across something.

cut down — meaning, examples & how to say it