Word.ws English Dictionary

jump-cut

jump-cut verb: to abruptly transition to a later moment of the scene.

Verb

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

  1. (ambitransitive) To abruptly transition to a later moment of the scene.
    • The segment ends with a shot of the enthusiastic audience before again jump-cutting to Caleb Peterson reprising “Ol' Man River” surrounded by the black chorus, the white chorus ranged behind and above them.2014, Kirsten Pullen, Like a Natural Woman: Spectacular Female Performance in Classical Hollywood, Rutgers University Press, →ISBN
  2. (figuratively, intransitive) To abruptly shift one's focus toward a later point in time; to fast-forward.
    • Jump-cut to last year: Kunlun Group Limited, a Chinese gaming company, acquired full ownership of Grindr. In January of this year, Simkhai stepped down as CEO.2018 November 8, Lance Richardson, “Making Grindr Kinder”, in Slate
    • Jump cut to the following July, when Taylor surprise-released folklore. Every lesbian I knew seemed weirdly excited for this album.2023 August 31, Frankie de la Cretaz, “Postcard from Camp Gaylore”, in Cosmopolitan
  3. (intransitive) To perform a jump cut.
    • After Lake insisted the sixth-year senior hadn’t impressed enough in practice to contribute in their first two games, McGrew responded with 31 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just six carries Saturday — releasing a guttural growl after jump-cutting and crossing the goal line for a 13-yard score...2021 September 18, Mike Vorel, “After two frustrating losses, the dam finally breaks in Washington’s 52-3 win over Arkansas State”, in The Seattle Times

Forms of jump-cut

third-person singular presentjump-cuts
present participlejump-cutting
past participlejump-cut
pastjump-cut
alternative formjump cut
alternative formjumpcut

Questions about jump-cut

What does jump-cut mean?
Jump-cut means to abruptly transition to a later moment of the scene.
What part of speech is jump-cut?
Jump-cut is a verb.
What is the past tense of jump-cut?
The past tense of jump-cut is jump-cut.

Words near jump-cut in the dictionary

  1. jump upon
  2. jump wire
  3. jump wires
  4. jump'n'run
  5. jump'n'runs
  6. jump-cut
  7. jump-cuts
  8. jump-cutting
  9. jump-off
  10. jump-off point
  11. jump-offs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jump-cut (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-us-jump-cut.oga.

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