Dictionary

cut corners en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. To bypass a prescribed route so as to gain competitive advantage or to circumvent traffic signals or other rules of the road.
   • […] but I believe the old man did not ride fair, as he cut corners and joined in with them again […] 1882, Dan Seffert, quoted in “Half Hours with Dan Seffert”, in Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, Volume 39, page 275
2. (idiomatic) To do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job; to do something poorly; to take inappropriate shortcuts.
   • The guy who built the fence cut corners when sinking the posts, and the fence fell over in the last storm.
   • Do you know why Wendy's has square burgers? Because they don't cut corners.
   • To obtain that data, tech companies including OpenAI, Google and Meta have cut corners, ignored corporate policies and debated bending the law, according to an examination by The New York Times. 2024 April 6, Cade Metz, Cecilia Kang, Sheera Frenkel, Stuart A. Thompson, Nico Grant, “How Tech Giants Cut Corners to Harvest Data for A.I.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 07 Apr 2024:

Forms

Synonyms

take the easy way out · take short cuts · half-ass · skimp · follow the path of least resistance

Translations (37)

id berhemat (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · pt gambiarrar (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · es escatimar (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · fi hutiloida (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · fi mennä sieltä mistä aita on matalin (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · fi käyttää helpointa tapaa (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · cmn 馬馬虎虎 /马马虎虎 (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · es atrochar (bypass a prescribed route) · cmn 敷衍了事 (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · it prendere delle scorciatoie (bypass a prescribed route) · es pichicatear (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · es acorzar (bypass a prescribed route) · fi vetää mutkat suoriksi (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · pl iść na skróty (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · ja 手を抜く (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · fr prendre des raccourcis (bypass a prescribed route) · he עיגל פינות \ עִגֵּל פִּנּוֹת (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · pt atalhar (bypass a prescribed route) · id memintas (bypass a prescribed route) · fr couper les coins ronds (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · az yola vermək (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · id pelit modal (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · id cari singkat (bypass a prescribed route) · es tacañear (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · fi tinkiä laadusta (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · es cicatear (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · fi mennä yli siitä mistä aita on matalin (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · es atrechar (bypass a prescribed route) · cmn 繞過既定路線 /绕过既定路线 (bypass a prescribed route) · es atajar (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · es alcorzar (bypass a prescribed route) · es retacear (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · cmn 偷工減料 /偷工减料 (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · cmn 草率行事 (do a less-than-thorough or incomplete job) · es atajar (bypass a prescribed route) · fi oikaista (bypass a prescribed route) · cmn 抄近路 (bypass a prescribed route)