cutthroat

English

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cutthroat

/ˈkʌtθɹəʊt/ UK
/ˈkʊtθɹəʊt/ Northern England
[ˈkʊtθɹoːt] Northern England
[ˈkʊtθɹoʊt] Northern England
/ˈkʌtθɾot/ Scotland
/ˈkʌtθɾoːt/ Wales
/ˈkʌtθɹoʊt/ US
/ˈkɐtθɹəʉt/ Australia
/ˈkɐtθɹɐʉt/ New Zealand

Where it comes from

From cut + throat.

noun cutthroats · cut-throat · cut throat

countable, uncountable A murderer who slits the throats of victims.
countable, uncountable An unscrupulous, ruthless or unethical person. The jail had not housed a white criminal in over four years, and there is seldom a prisoner of any kind, the Sheriff being a lazy no-good, prone to take his ease with a bottle of liquor, and let trouble-makers and thieves, even the most dangerous type of cutthroats, run free and wild.
uncountable A three-player pocket billiards game where the object is to be the last player with at least one ball still on the table.
abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of cutthroat compound (“an agentive-instrumental verb-noun compound word”). Children go through a phase of compound acquisition in which they invent cutthroats spontaneously before dropping the habit again.
abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of cutthroat finch (Amadina fasciata).

adjective more cutthroat · most cutthroat · cut-throat · cut throat

Involving the cutting of throats.
Of or relating to a card game where everyone plays for him or herself rather than playing with a partner. He found that playing cutthroat Spades was much more difficult than playing with a partner.
Ruthlessly competitive, dog-eat-dog. Law is a cutthroat business, you always have to look out to see who is trying to outdo you.

Translations

Every language

noun murderer

Español	degollador
Português	degolador
Français	coupe-jarret
Deutsch	Halsabschneider
Italiano	tagliagole
Русский	головоре́з golovoréz

noun unscrupulous, ruthless or unethical person

Español	canalla
Deutsch	Halsabschneider
Русский	головоре́з golovoréz

adj very competitive, dog-eat-dog

Español	canallesco
Deutsch	mörderisch, halsabschneiderisch, rücksichtslos, hemmungslos

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Cite this

MLA

"cutthroat." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cutthroat. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cutthroat. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cutthroat

Chicago

"cutthroat." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cutthroat.

BibTeX

@misc{cutthroat_2026,
  title = {cutthroat},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cutthroat},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}