CLEAR-CUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does clear-cut mean? 

• CLEAR-CUT (adjective)
  The adjective CLEAR-CUT has 3 senses:

1. clearly or sharply defined to the mind

2. having had all the trees removed at one time

3. clear and distinct to the senses; easily perceptible

  Familiarity information: CLEAR-CUT used as an adjective is uncommon.

• CLEAR-CUT (verb)
  The verb CLEAR-CUT has 1 sense:

1. remove all the trees at one time

  Familiarity information: CLEAR-CUT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLEAR-CUT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Clearly or sharply defined to the mind

Synonyms:

clear-cut; distinct; trenchant

Context example:

trenchant distinctions between right and wrong

Similar:

clear (readily apparent to the mind)

Derivation:

clearcutness (clarity as a consequence of precision)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having had all the trees removed at one time

Context example:

clear-cut hillsides are subject to erosion

Similar:

cleared (rid of objects or obstructions such as e.g. trees and brush)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Clear and distinct to the senses; easily perceptible

Synonyms:

clean-cut; clear; clear-cut

Context example:

a clear-cut pattern

Similar:

distinct (easy to perceive; especially clearly outlined)

Derivation:

clearcutness (clarity as a consequence of precision)

• CLEAR-CUT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they clear-cut    ... he / she / it clear-cuts   
Past simple: clear-cut   
Past participle: clear-cut   
-ing form: clear-cutting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Remove all the trees at one time

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

clear-cut an acre of forest

Hypernyms (to "clear-cut" is one way to...):

clear (remove)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

By his side walked a woman, tall and slight and dark, with lithe, graceful figure and clear-cut, composed features.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a dark, handsome, clear-cut face which confronted Milverton—a face with a curved nose, strong, dark eyebrows shading hard, glittering eyes, and a straight, thin-lipped mouth set in a dangerous smile.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her dark, clear-cut face was handsome, even in death, but there still lingered upon it something of that convulsion of horror which had been her last human emotion.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A group of presumed common ancestry with clear-cut physiological but usually not morphological distinctions.

(Animal Organism Strain, NCI Thesaurus)

Definite adverse event attribution to study product or procedure is established when there is a clear-cut temporal association between product or procedure administration and adverse event, and no other possible cause is present.

(Definite Adverse Event Attribution to Product or Procedure, NCI Thesaurus)

Her face is as clear-cut as a cameo.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Often I have watched them come up the aisle upon a Sunday, first the square, thick-set man, and then the little, worn, anxious-eyed woman, and last this glorious lad with his clear-cut face, his black curls, and his step so springy and light that it seemed as if he were bound to earth by some lesser tie than the heavy-footed villagers round him.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His features were small, delicate, and regular, with clear-cut, curving nose, and eyes which jutted forward from the lids.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The other, dark, clear-cut, and elegant, hardly yet of middle age, and endowed with every beauty of body and of mind, was the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope, Secretary for European Affairs, and the most rising statesman in the country.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was a tall, gaunt man of sixty, with clear-cut features and a small goatee beard which gave him a general resemblance to the caricatures of Uncle Sam. A half-smoked, sodden cigar hung from the corner of his mouth, and as he sat down he struck a match and relit it.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)