Word.ws English Dictionary

cut the muster

cut the muster is the alternative form of cut the mustard.

Meaning of cut the mustard

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough; to suffice.
    • Give me the bigger hammer. This little one just doesn’t cut the mustard.
    Synonyms:
    be up to par, be up to scratch, be up to snuff, cut it, hack it, make the cut, make the grade, measure up, pass muster

Forms of cut the muster

third-person singular presentcuts the muster
present participlecutting the muster
past participlecut the muster
pastcut the muster

Origin of cut the muster

A modification of cut the mustard; see muster, pass muster.

Questions about cut the muster

What is cut the muster the alternative form of?
Cut the muster is the alternative form of cut the mustard.

Words near cut the muster in the dictionary

  1. cut the fool
  2. cut the Gordian knot
  3. cut the ground from under someone's feet
  4. cut the knot
  5. cut the mustard
  6. cut the muster
  7. cut the pigeon wing
  8. cut the rug
  9. cut the shit
  10. cut the umbilical cord
  11. cut throat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cut the muster (page history and authors); cut the mustard (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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Cite this entry: “cut the muster.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cut_the_muster. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.