"cut to the quick" meaning in English

See cut to the quick in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: cuts to the quick [present, singular, third-person], cutting to the quick [participle, present], cut to the quick [participle, past], cut to the quick [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|cut<,,cut> to the quick|head=cut to the quick}} cut to the quick (third-person singular simple present cuts to the quick, present participle cutting to the quick, simple past and past participle cut to the quick)
  1. (transitive, figuratively) To hurt a person deeply, especially emotionally. Tags: figuratively, transitive Translations (to hurt a person deeply): haavoittaa (Finnish), piquer au vif (French), elevenébe vág (Hungarian), dotykać do żywego [imperfective] (Polish), dotknąć do żywego [perfective] (Polish), заде́ть за живо́е (zadétʹ za živóje) [perfective] (Russian)
    Sense id: en-cut_to_the_quick-en-verb-0uWkqXh9 Disambiguation of 'to hurt a person deeply': 95 4 1
  2. (figuratively) To incisively discuss the underlying sensitive or unpleasant root of a given topic. Tags: figuratively Translations (to discuss the sensitive root of a topic): mennä suoraan asiaan (Finnish), dotykać do żywego [imperfective] (Polish), dotknąć do żywego [perfective] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-cut_to_the_quick-en-verb-B7mQfc2t Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 22 50 28 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 13 69 18 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 10 67 23 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 9 69 22 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 13 72 15 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 17 65 18 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 34 57 10 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 15 67 17 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 16 68 16 Disambiguation of 'to discuss the sensitive root of a topic': 8 90 2
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cut, quick. Related terms: cut to the chase, words cut deep
    Sense id: en-cut_to_the_quick-en-verb-1fgJE6V2 Categories (other): English links with manual fragments

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cuts to the quick",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cutting to the quick",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut to the quick",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut to the quick",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cut<,,cut> to the quick",
        "head": "cut to the quick"
      },
      "expansion": "cut to the quick (third-person singular simple present cuts to the quick, present participle cutting to the quick, simple past and past participle cut to the quick)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:",
          "text": "I was cut to the quick at the idea of having lost the inestimable privilege of listening to the gifted Kurtz.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XI:",
          "text": "But you must remember that we were boys together, and a fellow naturally confides in a chap he was boys together with. Anyway, be that as it may, he poured out his soul to me, and he hadn't been pouring long before I was able to see that he was cut to the quick. His blood pressure was high, his eye rolled in what they call a fine frenzy, and he was death-where-is-thy-sting-ing like nobody's business.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To hurt a person deeply, especially emotionally."
      ],
      "id": "en-cut_to_the_quick-en-verb-0uWkqXh9",
      "links": [
        [
          "hurt",
          "hurt"
        ],
        [
          "deeply",
          "deeply"
        ],
        [
          "emotionally",
          "emotionally"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, figuratively) To hurt a person deeply, especially emotionally."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "95 4 1",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
          "word": "haavoittaa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 4 1",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
          "word": "piquer au vif"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 4 1",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
          "word": "elevenébe vág"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 4 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "dotykać do żywego"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 4 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "dotknąć do żywego"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 4 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "zadétʹ za živóje",
          "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "заде́ть за живо́е"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "22 50 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "13 69 18",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "10 67 23",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "9 69 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "13 72 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 65 18",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "34 57 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 67 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "16 68 16",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Cristina Malcolmson, “Review of Fantasies of Female Evil: The Dynamics of Gender and Power in Shakespearean Tragedy by Cristina Alfar”, in Shakespeare Quarterly, volume 56, number 1, page 112:",
          "text": "Alfar's analysis cuts to the quick of the socioeconomic structures that underlie marriage, primogeniture, monarchy, and imperialism.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To incisively discuss the underlying sensitive or unpleasant root of a given topic."
      ],
      "id": "en-cut_to_the_quick-en-verb-B7mQfc2t",
      "links": [
        [
          "incisively",
          "incisively"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) To incisively discuss the underlying sensitive or unpleasant root of a given topic."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "8 90 2",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to discuss the sensitive root of a topic",
          "word": "mennä suoraan asiaan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "8 90 2",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to discuss the sensitive root of a topic",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "dotykać do żywego"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "8 90 2",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to discuss the sensitive root of a topic",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "dotknąć do żywego"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [
            "Links with manual fragments",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cut, quick."
      ],
      "id": "en-cut_to_the_quick-en-verb-1fgJE6V2",
      "links": [
        [
          "cut",
          "cut#English"
        ],
        [
          "quick",
          "quick#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 0 100",
          "word": "cut to the chase"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 0 100",
          "word": "words cut deep"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cut to the quick"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cuts to the quick",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cutting to the quick",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut to the quick",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut to the quick",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cut<,,cut> to the quick",
        "head": "cut to the quick"
      },
      "expansion": "cut to the quick (third-person singular simple present cuts to the quick, present participle cutting to the quick, simple past and past participle cut to the quick)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "cut to the chase"
    },
    {
      "word": "words cut deep"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:",
          "text": "I was cut to the quick at the idea of having lost the inestimable privilege of listening to the gifted Kurtz.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XI:",
          "text": "But you must remember that we were boys together, and a fellow naturally confides in a chap he was boys together with. Anyway, be that as it may, he poured out his soul to me, and he hadn't been pouring long before I was able to see that he was cut to the quick. His blood pressure was high, his eye rolled in what they call a fine frenzy, and he was death-where-is-thy-sting-ing like nobody's business.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To hurt a person deeply, especially emotionally."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "hurt",
          "hurt"
        ],
        [
          "deeply",
          "deeply"
        ],
        [
          "emotionally",
          "emotionally"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, figuratively) To hurt a person deeply, especially emotionally."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Cristina Malcolmson, “Review of Fantasies of Female Evil: The Dynamics of Gender and Power in Shakespearean Tragedy by Cristina Alfar”, in Shakespeare Quarterly, volume 56, number 1, page 112:",
          "text": "Alfar's analysis cuts to the quick of the socioeconomic structures that underlie marriage, primogeniture, monarchy, and imperialism.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To incisively discuss the underlying sensitive or unpleasant root of a given topic."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "incisively",
          "incisively"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) To incisively discuss the underlying sensitive or unpleasant root of a given topic."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English links with manual fragments"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cut, quick."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "cut",
          "cut#English"
        ],
        [
          "quick",
          "quick#Noun"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
      "word": "haavoittaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
      "word": "piquer au vif"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
      "word": "elevenébe vág"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "dotykać do żywego"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "dotknąć do żywego"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "zadétʹ za živóje",
      "sense": "to hurt a person deeply",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "заде́ть за живо́е"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to discuss the sensitive root of a topic",
      "word": "mennä suoraan asiaan"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to discuss the sensitive root of a topic",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "dotykać do żywego"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to discuss the sensitive root of a topic",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "dotknąć do żywego"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cut to the quick"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.