cut one's losses

verb

To discontinue something to put a stop to continued losses after facing that it is unlikely it will ever bear fruit.

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Meanings

verbcut one's losses (third-person singular simple present cuts one's losses, present participle cutting one's losses, simple past and past participle cut one's losses)

present singular third person cuts one's losses · participle present cutting one's losses

  1. To discontinue something to put a stop to continued losses after facing that it is unlikely it will ever bear fruit.

    Sometimes when things are not going as you expected, it's better to cut your losses and move on than to hang on and deal with the stress, financial drain, emotional drag, and loss of time.

    2017, Meera Lester, Rituals for Life: Find Meaning in Your Everyday Moments, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 174
    3 more examples

    But our culture has reinforced the belief that a good marriage just happens, and if it doesn't, you should simply cut your losses and move on to the next partner. After all, that's what we see in the movies.

    2007, Catherine Weber, A Woman's Guide to Overcoming Depression, Baker Books, →ISBN, page 47

    I mentioned already in this chapter that you need to cut your losses before they drag you down. No matter how much it hurts and no matter how much you believe that you are right, you need to close out a losing position and move on.

    2011, Ann C. Logue, Day Trading For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 43

    One of life's most useful skills is knowing when to cut your losses. The $11.8bn digital mood-board platform Pinterest, down nearly 80 per cent since its 2021 peak, may be approaching that moment.

    2026 March 14, “Pinterest might want to put a potential sale on its mood board”, in FT Weekend (Lex section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 減少損失 /减少损失, 止損 /止损
  • 減少損失 /减少损失 (jiǎnshǎo sǔnshī)discontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
  • 止損 /止损 (zhǐsǔn)discontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
Finnish rajata tappio
  • rajata tappiodiscontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
French arrêter les frais
  • arrêter les fraisdiscontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
German die Verluste begrenzen, einen harten Schnitt machen
  • die Verluste begrenzendiscontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
  • einen harten Schnitt machendiscontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
Polish zmniejszać straty, zmniejszyć straty
  • zmniejszać stratydiscontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
  • zmniejszyć stratydiscontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
Russian фикси́ровать убы́тки, зафикси́ровать убы́тки
  • фикси́ровать убы́тки (fiksírovatʹ ubýtki)discontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
  • зафикси́ровать убы́тки (zafiksírovatʹ ubýtki)discontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
Spanish cortar por lo sano, reducir las pérdidas
  • cortar por lo sanodiscontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
  • reducir las pérdidasdiscontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
  • recortar las perdicionesdiscontinue an effort that seems unlikely to ever bear fruit
Cite this entry
APA

cut one's losses. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut%20one's%20losses

MLA

“cut one's losses.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut%20one's%20losses. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cut one's losses,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut%20one's%20losses.

Source: cut one's losses on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.