cut and thrust
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Competitive atmosphere.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
This in no way limited the cut - and - thrust of political disagreement.
The man on the right had been reading while the scintillating cut and thrust of Alf and Bert had dominated the ward: Amiss thought that a good sign.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “cut and thrust” mean?
Competitive atmosphere.
Is “cut and thrust” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.