cut a wide swath
cut a wide swath verb: to clear a broad track through a grassland, woodland, geographical region, or other area, either by natural means or by human action.
Verb
cut a wide swath (third-person singular simple present cuts a wide swath, present participle cutting a wide swath, simple past and past participle cut a wide swath)
- To clear a broad track through a grassland, woodland, geographical region, or other area, either by natural means or by human action.
- Sherman started from Atlanta in the middle of November. He cut a wide swath of desolation through the South.1876, William Swinton, A Condensed School History of the United States, Ivison, Blakeman, and Taylor (New York), p. 277
- Swinging his bloody horns from side to side the beast cut a wide swath before him.1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 6, in At the Earth's Core
- Synonyms:
- blaze a trail, cut a swath
- To behave in an expansive, flagrantly showy, or pushy manner, especially in public venues; to exert sweeping influence.
- Girls who like to cut a wide swath ought to come out to China, for they will have enough flattery and attention to turn their heads.1899, Delight Sweetser Prentiss, One Way Round the World, 2nd edition, Bowen-Merrill, page 124
- During the two years that he [the Count] cut a wide swath in the city [Berlin] his name was constantly associated with that of some dancer, actress or other woman whose notoriety drew more attention than her talent.1924, "Method in Kindness," Time, 21 Jan., quoting the Daily News (Manhattan)
Examples of cut a wide swath in a sentence
- The twister cut a wide swath of destruction in Utica, a town of 2,000 people about 90 miles southwest of Chicago.2004 April 21, “8 bodies pulled from twister-hit Illinois tavern”, in msnbc:
- The company certainly cut a wide swath in a conservative industry.1998, Jeff Goldsmith, “Columbia/HCA: A Failure of Leadership”, in Health Affairs, volume 17, number 2, page 27:
- With his signature red beret and class-based rhetoric, president Hugo Chavez has cut a wide swath through this oil-rich but impoverished nation.2004 August 15, Gary Marx, “Venezuelans head to polls in president's recall election”, in San Diego Union Tribune:
Synonyms of cut a wide swath
- blaze a trail
- cut a swath
- show off
- swagger
- throw one's weight around
- aura farm
- boulevardier
- exhibitionize
- flex
- floss
22 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of cut a wide swath
| third-person singular present | cuts a wide swath |
|---|---|
| present participle | cutting a wide swath |
| past participle | cut a wide swath |
| past | cut a wide swath |
| alternative form | cut a wide swathe |
Questions about cut a wide swath
- What does cut a wide swath mean?
- Cut a wide swath means to clear a broad track through a grassland, woodland, geographical region, or other area, either by natural means or by human action.
- How do you use cut a wide swath in a sentence?
- The twister cut a wide swath of destruction in Utica, a town of 2,000 people about 90 miles southwest of Chicago.
- What part of speech is cut a wide swath?
- Cut a wide swath is a verb.
- What is the past tense of cut a wide swath?
- The past tense of cut a wide swath is cut a wide swath.
Words near cut a wide swath in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cut a wide swath (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-cut a wide swath.ogg.
Cite this entry: “cut a wide swath.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cut_a_wide_swath. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.