cut through

verb, noun — 6 senses

cut through

verbalso spelled cut-through

1

To take a shortcut through.

I usually cut through the woods to get home, but last night it was too dark.

2

Idiomatic To dispense with or quickly deal with (an issue that is seen as an obstruction or waste of time).

Can we cut through the bureaucracy and make a decision on the spot?

3

Figuratively To reach (an audience etc.).

[…] making the case that you cannot understand the climate crisis without understanding that there is an arch from slavery to colonialism and imperialism to the climate crisis … Now we are seeing those arguments cut through.2021 December 27, Matthew Taylor, quoting Asad Rehman, “Asad Rehman on climate justice: ‘Now we are seeing these arguments cut through’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

4

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cut, through.

Related terms: Gordian knot

cut-through

noun

Etymology From cut + through.

1

A shortcut; a path, road or route that is used to avoid a longer journey.

2

Figuratively Reach; influence.

It is the public mood that a party needs to assess and then recast in order to achieve cut-through and gain votes.2022 March 29, Dr Peter Mangan, “What Labour must do to cut through to voters”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, Letters:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for cut through and cut-through.