Meaning of cut down to size | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To humble or humiliate, especially someone or something that is perceived as overly domineering or too proud.
   idiomatic, informal
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cut, down, size.

Equivalents

Examples

“The war was seen by the Foreign Office as a golden opportunity to undo⟳ the UN Partition Resolution and cut⟳ Israel down to size'.”

“The system cut⟳ everybody down to size. I felt small and vulnerable.”

“If Arthur Oliphant's aim had been to cut⟳ them down to size, it worked: photographs taken at Somerville College in 1888 show⟳ Bamba and her sister looking diffident.”

“There is, however, another general approach⟳ to cutting the potential client population down to size: establish⟳ criteria, grounded in the Bank's basic strategy, that restrict the range of enterprises that the Bank tries to reach⟳.”

“As the plastic moves between the stationary and rotating blades it is cut⟳ down to size.”

CEFR level