Word.ws English Dictionary

make the cut

make the cut verb: to succeed at something or meet a requirement; to be chosen out of a field of candidates or possibilities.

Verb

make the cut (third-person singular simple present makes the cut, present participle making the cut, simple past and past participle made the cut)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To succeed at something or meet a requirement; to be chosen out of a field of candidates or possibilities.
    • Out of a pool of 20 applicants, only three made the cut.

Forms of make the cut

third-person singular presentmakes the cut
present participlemaking the cut
past participlemade the cut
pastmade the cut

Origin of make the cut

From the sport of golf, in which players are said to make the cut when they match or exceed a certain score, thus avoiding elimination during the final two rounds of a four-round tournament.

Questions about make the cut

What does make the cut mean?
Make the cut means to succeed at something or meet a requirement; to be chosen out of a field of candidates or possibilities.
What part of speech is make the cut?
Make the cut is a verb.
What is the past tense of make the cut?
The past tense of make the cut is made the cut.

Words near make the cut in the dictionary

  1. make the best of a bad bargain
  2. make the best of a bad job
  3. make the best of one's way
  4. make the case for
  5. make the cheese more binding
  6. make the cut
  7. make the deasil
  8. make the difference
  9. make the dust fly
  10. make the feathers fly
  11. make the first move

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: make the 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-au-make the cut.ogg.

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