Meanings
plural cut-ins
- broadcastingA section of film or audio inserted into another sequence.
Inasmuch as leaders and cut-ins use up film a foot to a word, they should be resorted to only when absolutely necessary. For the producer has sufficient expense in his company and plant, without adding to it in film for cut-ins and leaders.
1916, Carl Charlton, How to Write Photoplays, page 23 - broadlyvideo gamesA visual sequence focusing on a character's face or body while they perform a special move.
- The situation where the performer of a musical work receives royalties for each performance, despite not having composed it.
One group was understandably upset by all the royalty cut-ins — the songwriters.
1994, Kerry Segrave, Payola in the Music Industry: A History, 1880-1991, page 211 more example
"My collaborators are having their convention in Cleveland this week," was the rueful joke among real songwriters who were seeing their royalties diluted by cut-ins.
2012, Gary Rosen, Unfair to Genius: The Strange and Litigious Career of Ira B. Arnstein, page 138 - An instance of pulling in front of another vehicle in traffic.
Synonyms & antonyms
noun(broadcasting) a local announcement inserted into a network program
noun(film) a still picture that is introduced and that interrupts the action of a film
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Deverbal from cut in.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cut-in. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut-in
“cut-in.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut-in. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cut-in,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut-in.
Source: cut-in on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.