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.

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