Word.ws English Dictionary

cut the Gordian knot

cut the Gordian knot verb: to solve a seemingly intractable problem by using a simple solution that is unconstrained by the assumptions that underpin the usual attempts to solve that problem.

Verb

cut the Gordian knot (third-person singular simple present cuts the Gordian knot, present participle cutting the Gordian knot, simple past and past participle cut the Gordian knot)

  1. (intransitive) To solve a seemingly intractable problem by using a simple solution that is unconstrained by the assumptions that underpin the usual attempts to solve that problem.
    • Yet there were so many difficulties in assigning a natural explanation, that, to the day of her death, she remained in great doubt on the subject, and much disposed to cut the Gordian knot by admitting the existence of supernatural agency.1828, Walter Scott, chapter II, in My Aunt Margaret's Mirror

Forms of cut the Gordian knot

third-person singular presentcuts the Gordian knot
present participlecutting the Gordian knot
past participlecut the Gordian knot
pastcut the Gordian knot

Questions about cut the Gordian knot

What does cut the Gordian knot mean?
Cut the Gordian knot means to solve a seemingly intractable problem by using a simple solution that is unconstrained by the assumptions that underpin the usual attempts to solve that problem.
What part of speech is cut the Gordian knot?
Cut the Gordian knot is a verb.
What is the past tense of cut the Gordian knot?
The past tense of cut the Gordian knot is cut the Gordian knot.

Words near cut the Gordian knot in the dictionary

  1. cut the cheese
  2. cut the coat according to the cloth
  3. cut the cord
  4. cut the crap
  5. cut the fool
  6. cut the Gordian knot
  7. cut the ground from under someone's feet
  8. cut the knot
  9. cut the mustard
  10. cut the muster
  11. cut the pigeon wing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cut the Gordian knot (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-cut the Gordian knot.oga.

Cite this entry: “cut the Gordian knot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cut_the_gordian_knot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.