Word.ws English Dictionary

cutting down the tall poppy

cutting down the tall poppy is the present participle and gerund of cut down the tall poppy.

Meaning of cut down the tall poppy

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To belittle or undermine someone who is perceived as superior or more successful and accomplished.

Questions about cutting down the tall poppy

What is cutting down the tall poppy the present participle and gerund of?
Cutting down the tall poppy is the present participle and gerund of cut down the tall poppy.

Words near cutting down the tall poppy in the dictionary

  1. cutting contest
  2. cutting contests
  3. cutting corners
  4. cutting deeper than a knife
  5. cutting down
  6. cutting down the tall poppy
  7. cutting down to size
  8. cutting edge
  9. cutting edges
  10. cutting fluid
  11. cutting fluids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cutting down the tall poppy (page history and authors); cut down the tall poppy (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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