Idiom
Cut to the chase
To cut to the chase means to skip the unnecessary details and get straight to the most important point.
How people use it
People say it when a conversation, meeting or story is dragging: "Let me cut to the chase: we need a bigger budget." Used about yourself, it sounds efficient. Telling someone else to cut to the chase can sound impatient or rude, so people often soften it: "Can we cut to the chase?" It is informal but very common in business talk. Similar phrases are get to the point and long story short.
Examples
- I'll cut to the chase: the trip costs more than we planned, so we need to save.
- After ten minutes of small talk, Ana asked the salesman to cut to the chase and name a price.
- The coach cut to the chase and told us we had to win both games to make the playoffs.
Where it comes from
It comes from early American filmmaking. Many silent comedies and adventure films built up to an exciting chase scene, and writers would note where the story should cut, meaning switch suddenly, to the chase. The phrase appears in film writing in the late 1920s and later spread into everyday speech.
Check yourself
1. What does cut to the chase mean?
Answer: Get to the main point quickly. Cut to the chase means skipping the extra details and saying what matters.
2. Which idiom means nearly the opposite of cut to the chase?
Answer: Beat around the bush. Beat around the bush means avoiding the main point, the opposite of cutting to the chase.
Similar idioms
Word game fan? See every word hiding in CHASE.