cut to the chase
"cut-to-the-chase" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cut to the chase” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To get to the point; to get on with it; to state something directly.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cut-to-the-chase · cut to the chase · English
cut to the chase · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cut to the chase |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cut to the chase” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cut to the chase is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To get to the point; to get on with it; to state something directly.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for cut to the chase, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From cinema usage: to cut (edit a film) so as to get to the exciting part. Also, preceded by Chaucer c.1400, "The Wife of Bath's Tale"- "And shortly forth this tale for to chace" (To cut a long story short). The correct English form is cut to the chase, spelled C-U-T- -T-O- -T-H-E- -C-H-A-S-E.
Definition
- 1To get to the point; to get on with it; to state something directly.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cut to the chase appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
We don't have much time here. Could you cut to the chase?
Allen Gregory DeLongpre: I don't like to play games, the whole wait three days to text you, flirt with other women in front of you. It's exhausting. Let's just cut to the chase. We're in love with each other.
Etymology
From cinema usage: to cut (edit a film) so as to get to the exciting part. Also, preceded by Chaucer c.1400, "The Wife of Bath's Tale"- "And shortly forth this tale for to chace" (To cut a long story short).
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.