Word.ws English Dictionary

you could cut the atmosphere with a knife

you could cut the atmosphere with a knife phrase: used to describe a situation that is extremely tense, heavy, or full of strong emotion.

Phrase

you could cut the atmosphere with a knife

  1. (figuratively, informal) Used to describe a situation that is extremely tense, heavy, or full of strong emotion.

Synonyms of you could cut the atmosphere with a knife

Origin of you could cut the atmosphere with a knife

Alluding to a figuratively thick atmosphere. Compare French à couper au couteau.

Questions about you could cut the atmosphere with a knife

What does you could cut the atmosphere with a knife mean?
You could cut the atmosphere with a knife means used to describe a situation that is extremely tense, heavy, or full of strong emotion.
What part of speech is you could cut the atmosphere with a knife?
You could cut the atmosphere with a knife is a phrase.

Words near you could cut the atmosphere with a knife in the dictionary

  1. you cannot please everyone
  2. you cannot put the same shoe on every foot
  3. you catch more flies with honey than vinegar
  4. you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
  5. you could cut the air with a knife
  6. you could cut the atmosphere with a knife
  7. you could have fooled me
  8. you couldn't make it up
  9. you do you
  10. you don't dip your pen in company ink
  11. you don't dip your pen in the company inkwell

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: you could cut the atmosphere with a knife (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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