make the cut

make the cut — idiom

1. to reach a high enough standard to be chosen as part of a smaller group, after o

1.idiomB2
Definition

to reach a high enough standard to be chosen as part of a smaller group, after others have been removed.

Example

Padma practised for months, but still did not make the cut for the choir.

make the cut for [a group] = be chosen for it

Only three of the forty paintings made the cut for the gallery show.

subject can be a thing, not just a person

Common collocations
  • make the cut for
  • did not make the cut
  • trying to make the cut
  • fail to make the cut
Synonyms
  • qualify

    more neutral and formal; about meeting fixed rules rather than beating rivals

  • make the grade

    another idiom; stresses reaching a required level, not surviving a selection round

  • get selected

    plain wording; lacks the sense of others being dropped

Antonyms
  • be cut

    to be removed from the group during the selection

  • miss out

    informal; to fail to be included

Usage Note

Often negative or conditional — speakers use it most when someone narrowly fails ('did not make the cut') or hopes to succeed ('trying to make the cut'). The standard being met is set by other people, not by the speaker.

Common Mistakes

Selim made the cut of the team.
Selim made the cut for the team.
the group you are chosen for takes 'for', not 'of'.

Etymology

English

The phrase comes from golf, where a tournament 'cut' removes lower-scoring players partway through, so only the better players continue. 'Cut' here means the dividing line that separates those who stay from those who go. From the 1900s the sporting use spread to any situation where people are chosen and others dropped.