cut down
Reduce in size
To cut down is to fell by cutting: We cut down the old oak tree.
Extended meanings involve reduction—cutting down on spending, cutting down portions.
To cut someone down is to kill them, especially by gunfire, or to deflate their ego: She cut him down to size with a single remark.
A cut-down version is reduced or simplified.
Bladed tool for chopping
- chainsawMotor-driven cutting tool
- fellingDowning standing timber
- timberWood for construction
- lumberjackProfessional tree cutter
woodcutter · saw · stump · log · firewood · hatchet · hew · cleave
Shorten by omission
- abbreviateReduce word length
- truncateCut off abruptly
- condenseMake more compact
- compressReduce volume by force
edit · trim · pare · crop · snip · length · manuscript · article
To make something seem unimportant
- humiliateCause painful shame
- demeanLower in standing
- mockScornful imitation or fake
- ridiculeContemptuous mocking treatment
disparage · criticize · undermine · dismiss · embarrass · diminish · slight · snub
Mass job eliminations
- restructuringRearranging an existing framework
- redundanciesUnneeded duplications or repetitions
- workforceAll available workers
- staffOrganization's workers collectively
streamlining · attrition · retrenchment · headcount · budget · personnel · jobs · employees
Heavy-duty cutting blades
- trimmingCutting away excess
- clippersHandheld cutting implements
- loppingCutting away branches
- thinningReducing density or number
deadheading · topiary · hedge · shaping · bonsai · arboriculture · orchard · landscaping
axe
Bladed tool for chopping
lumberjack · woodcutter · saw · stump · log · firewood · hatchet · hew · cleave · slash
decrease
Become or make smaller
curtail · shrink · scale back · taper · slash · trim · pare · streamline · curb · moderate
abridge
Shorten by omission
- abbreviateReduce word length
- truncateCut off abruptly
- condenseMake more compact
compress · edit · trim · pare · crop · snip · length · manuscript · article · speech
belittle
To make something seem unimportant
ridicule · disparage · criticize · undermine · dismiss · embarrass · diminish · slight · snub · deflate
layoffs
Mass job eliminations
- restructuringRearranging an existing framework
- redundanciesUnneeded duplications or repetitions
- workforceAll available workers
staff · streamlining · attrition · retrenchment · headcount · budget · personnel · jobs · employees · positions
shears
Heavy-duty cutting blades
thinning · deadheading · topiary · hedge · shaping · bonsai · arboriculture · orchard · landscaping · branches
- scaling downscale back, dial back, taper off, roll back, thin out
- disparagementdefame, denigrate, disparage, malign, slander
- bring downtopple, fell, overthrow, dethrone, oust
- narrowing downnarrow, focus, pinpoint, zero in, home in
- Destroydestroy, annihilate, obliterate, demolish, devastate
- incapacitatedunconscious, knocked out, out cold, passed out, comatose