cutthroat
/ˈkʌtθɹoʊt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.84 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A three-player pocket billiards game where the object is to be the last player with at least one ball still on the table.
Uncountable
noun
Ellipsis of cutthroat compound (“an agentive-instrumental verb-noun compound word”).
Countable; Uncountable
adj
Of or relating to a card game where everyone plays for him or herself rather than playing with a partner.
adj
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Children go through a phase of compound acquisition in which they invent cutthroats spontaneously before dropping the habit again."
- "He found that playing cutthroat Spades was much more difficult than playing with a partner."
- "Law is a cutthroat business, you always have to look out to see who is trying to outdo you."
- "More specifically, Scrabblers are diehard, competitive, and occasionally cutthroat players who treat the game like it's chess or baseball..."
- "While these esports are often framed as battles of mental strategies and mechanical skills, how players juggle their hundreds, or thousands, of simultaneously ticking clocks and timers defines their ability to succeed in cutthroat competitions."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkʌtθɹoʊt/
- British English: /ˈkʌtθɹəʊt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
cutthroats (plural)
cut-throat (alternative)
cut throat (alternative)
more cutthroat (comparative)
most cutthroat (superlative)