Cut to the Chase: Meaning, Examples, and How to Use This Business English Idiom

Erin West
Aug 25
1 min read

Updated: Sep 8

Business professional checking his watch while holding coffee, with speech bubble saying “We don’t have much time, so let’s cut to the chase.” Example of the idiom cut to the chase meaning go straight to the main point in Business English.

Have you ever sat in a meeting where someone talks and talks… but never says what really matters?

That’s exactly the situation where a native speaker might say:

Let’s cut to the chase.

So, what’s the meaning of "cut to the chase" in everyday Business English?

Cut to the Chase: Meaning in Business English

CUT TO THE CHASE

idiom

to skip the small talk or details and go straight to the important part

Listen to the Example

Samantha (Project Lead), David (Manager), and Lena (Developer) are in a short meeting. The client has asked for an earlier delivery date, and the team needs to decide how to deal with the new deadline.

Samantha:	Thanks for joining, everyone. We’ve only got 20 minutes, so let’s cut to the chase. The client isn’t happy with the timeline.
David:	Right. They want delivery two weeks earlier, which pushes our testing phase.
Lena:	That could be challenging. If we cut two weeks, we’ll need extra resources, otherwise quality will suffer.
Samantha:	Good point. What if we reallocate people from another project team to support testing?
David:	That could work, but we’d need approval from Finance.
Lena:	Well, if Finance agrees, I think we can make it happen.