Word.ws English Dictionary

cutting someone some slack

cutting someone some slack is the present participle and gerund of cut someone some slack.

Meaning of cut someone some slack

Verb

cut someone some slack (third-person singular simple present cuts someone some slack, present participle cutting someone some slack, simple past and past participle cut someone some slack)

  1. (idiomatic) To make allowances for someone, and not treat a failure severely.
    • He's the new kid on the block and doesn't know the way we do things around here yet. Cut him some slack and let him learn from this.

Questions about cutting someone some slack

What is cutting someone some slack the present participle and gerund of?
Cutting someone some slack is the present participle and gerund of cut someone some slack.

Words near cutting someone some slack in the dictionary

  1. cutting someone cold
  2. cutting someone dead
  3. cutting someone loose
  4. cutting someone off at the knees
  5. cutting someone slack
  6. cutting someone some slack
  7. cutting someone's comb
  8. cutting someone's throat
  9. cutting swathes
  10. cutting the baby in half
  11. cutting the bullshit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cutting someone some slack (page history and authors); cut someone some slack (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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