Idiom
Cut your losses
To cut your losses is to stop doing something that is failing, so you don't lose even more money, time or effort.
How people use it
People use it about investments, businesses, relationships and projects that aren't working: after two bad years, they cut their losses and closed the shop. It means accepting a loss already made to avoid a bigger one. It is practical and neutral, often used as advice: sometimes you have to cut your losses. The pronoun changes to fit the person.
Examples
- The movie was terrible, so we cut our losses and left at intermission.
- After the third breakdown, Omar cut his losses and sold the old van.
- If the stock keeps falling, it might be time to cut your losses.
Where it comes from
It comes from trading and business, where cutting a loss means selling a falling investment before it drops further, rather than hoping it will recover. The phrase was in use by the late 1800s and later spread to any situation where stopping early is the wise choice.
Check yourself
1. What does it mean to cut your losses?
Answer: To quit something failing before losing more. Cutting your losses means stopping early to limit the damage.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: The shop wasn't making money, so the owners cut their losses and closed it.. The idiom fits a failing situation, not a successful one.
Similar idioms
Word game fan? See every word hiding in LOSSES.