"cut the mustard" meaning in All languages combined

See cut the mustard on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

IPA: /kʌt ðə ˈmʌstəd/ [Received-Pronunciation], /kʌt ðə ˈmʌstəɹd/ [General-American] Audio: En-au-cut the mustard.ogg Forms: cuts the mustard [present, singular, third-person], cutting the mustard [participle, present], cut the mustard [participle, past], cut the mustard [past]
Rhymes: -ʌstəd Etymology: From cut (“to exhibit (a quality)”) + the + mustard (“(originally US slang) something adding spice or zest to a situation; something setting the standard”). Head templates: {{en-verb|cut<,,cut> the mustard}} cut the mustard (third-person singular simple present cuts the mustard, present participle cutting the mustard, simple past and past participle cut the mustard)
  1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough; to suffice. Tags: idiomatic, intransitive Synonyms: be up to par, be up to scratch, be up to snuff, cut it, hack it, make the cut, make the grade, measure up, pass muster Translations (to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice): يفي بالغرض (Arabic), tranĉi la mustardon (Esperanto), kelvata (Finnish), riittää (Finnish), faire le poids (French), es bringen (German), elég jó (Hungarian), megjárja (Hungarian), tűrhető (Hungarian), wystarczać [imperfective] (Polish), wystarczyć [perfective] (Polish), потянуть (potjanutʹ) [perfective] (Russian), duga (Swedish), räcka till (Swedish), kesmek (Turkish), bod yn ddigon da (Welsh)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From cut (“to exhibit (a quality)”) + the + mustard (“(originally US slang) something adding spice or zest to a situation; something setting the standard”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cuts the mustard",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cutting the mustard",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut the mustard",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut the mustard",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cut<,,cut> the mustard"
      },
      "expansion": "cut the mustard (third-person singular simple present cuts the mustard, present participle cutting the mustard, simple past and past participle cut the mustard)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "cut"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
        },
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          "name": "English negative polarity items",
          "parents": [
            "Negative polarity items",
            "Terms by semantic function"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
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          "kind": "other",
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        },
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        },
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Arabic translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Turkish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Welsh translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Give me the bigger hammer. This little one just doesn’t cut the mustard.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1907, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Cupid à la Carte”, in Heart of the West, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company for Review of Reviews Co., →OCLC, page 163:",
          "text": "By nature and doctrines I am addicted to the habit of discovering choice places wherein to feed. So I looked around and found a proposition that exactly cut the mustard. I found a restaurant tent just opened up by an outfit that had drifted in on the tail of the boom.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1940 March 21, Fred Cummings, committee member, “Statement of Albert S. Goss [Former Land Bank Commissioner, Farm Credit Administration, Washington, D.C.]—Resumed”, in Farm Credit Legislation: Hearing before the Committee on Agriculture, Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, Seventy-sixth Congress, Third Session on H.R. 8748 […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 194:",
          "text": "[I]f a man gets a loan and over a period of years he has demonstrated that he cannot cut the mustard, how is he going to demonstrate it in a period of 12 months?",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough; to suffice."
      ],
      "id": "en-cut_the_mustard-en-verb-FYiwL7RJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "achieve",
          "achieve"
        ],
        [
          "expected",
          "expected#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "standard",
          "standard#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "effective",
          "effective#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "good",
          "good#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "enough",
          "enough#Adverb"
        ],
        [
          "suffice",
          "suffice"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, idiomatic) To achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough; to suffice."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "be up to par"
        },
        {
          "word": "be up to scratch"
        },
        {
          "word": "be up to snuff"
        },
        {
          "word": "cut it"
        },
        {
          "word": "hack it"
        },
        {
          "word": "make the cut"
        },
        {
          "word": "make the grade"
        },
        {
          "word": "measure up"
        },
        {
          "word": "pass muster"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "يفي بالغرض"
        },
        {
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "tranĉi la mustardon"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "kelvata"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "riittää"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "faire le poids"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "es bringen"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "elég jó"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "megjárja"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "tűrhető"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "wystarczać"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "wystarczyć"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "potjanutʹ",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "потянуть"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "duga"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "räcka till"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "kesmek"
        },
        {
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
          "word": "bod yn ddigon da"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kʌt ðə ˈmʌstəd/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kʌt ðə ˈmʌstəɹd/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-cut the mustard.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/47/En-au-cut_the_mustard.ogg/En-au-cut_the_mustard.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/En-au-cut_the_mustard.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌstəd"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cut the mustard"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From cut (“to exhibit (a quality)”) + the + mustard (“(originally US slang) something adding spice or zest to a situation; something setting the standard”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cuts the mustard",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cutting the mustard",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut the mustard",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut the mustard",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cut<,,cut> the mustard"
      },
      "expansion": "cut the mustard (third-person singular simple present cuts the mustard, present participle cutting the mustard, simple past and past participle cut the mustard)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "cut"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English negative polarity items",
        "English predicates",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Rhymes:English/ʌstəd",
        "Rhymes:English/ʌstəd/4 syllables",
        "Terms with Arabic translations",
        "Terms with Esperanto translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Hungarian translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations",
        "Terms with Turkish translations",
        "Terms with Welsh translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Give me the bigger hammer. This little one just doesn’t cut the mustard.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1907, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Cupid à la Carte”, in Heart of the West, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company for Review of Reviews Co., →OCLC, page 163:",
          "text": "By nature and doctrines I am addicted to the habit of discovering choice places wherein to feed. So I looked around and found a proposition that exactly cut the mustard. I found a restaurant tent just opened up by an outfit that had drifted in on the tail of the boom.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1940 March 21, Fred Cummings, committee member, “Statement of Albert S. Goss [Former Land Bank Commissioner, Farm Credit Administration, Washington, D.C.]—Resumed”, in Farm Credit Legislation: Hearing before the Committee on Agriculture, Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, Seventy-sixth Congress, Third Session on H.R. 8748 […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 194:",
          "text": "[I]f a man gets a loan and over a period of years he has demonstrated that he cannot cut the mustard, how is he going to demonstrate it in a period of 12 months?",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough; to suffice."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "achieve",
          "achieve"
        ],
        [
          "expected",
          "expected#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "standard",
          "standard#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "effective",
          "effective#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "good",
          "good#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "enough",
          "enough#Adverb"
        ],
        [
          "suffice",
          "suffice"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, idiomatic) To achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough; to suffice."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "be up to par"
        },
        {
          "word": "be up to scratch"
        },
        {
          "word": "be up to snuff"
        },
        {
          "word": "cut it"
        },
        {
          "word": "hack it"
        },
        {
          "word": "make the cut"
        },
        {
          "word": "make the grade"
        },
        {
          "word": "measure up"
        },
        {
          "word": "pass muster"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kʌt ðə ˈmʌstəd/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kʌt ðə ˈmʌstəɹd/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-cut the mustard.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/47/En-au-cut_the_mustard.ogg/En-au-cut_the_mustard.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/En-au-cut_the_mustard.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌstəd"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "يفي بالغرض"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "tranĉi la mustardon"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "kelvata"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "riittää"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "faire le poids"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "es bringen"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "elég jó"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "megjárja"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "tűrhető"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "wystarczać"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "wystarczyć"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "potjanutʹ",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "потянуть"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "duga"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "räcka till"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "kesmek"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "to achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough — see also suffice",
      "word": "bod yn ddigon da"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cut the mustard"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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