cord-cutter

noun

cord-cut·​ter ˈkȯrd-ˌkə-tər 

variants or less commonly cord cutter

plural cord-cutters also cord cutters

: someone who chooses to stop subscribing to cable television or to a landline telephone service

And now cord-cutters can watch Olympics coverage on the website and app, too …

—Noel Murray

It … is a little pricey for catching one game but might be worth it if you're a cord cutter that regularly wants access to live programming.

—Emily Price

Landline telephone cord-cutters are embracing mobile Internet as well …

—TendersInfo

Examples of cord-cutter in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And since The Real Housewives airs on Bravo, cord-cutters can watch new episodes live on any streaming service that carries the network, including DirecTV (with a five-day free trial), Sling and Hulu + Live TV. —Erin Lassner, HollywoodReporter, 5 Apr. 2026

The service will be available on certain cable and satellite providers, but there’s a clean answer for cord-cutters, too. —Jenny Catlin, New York Times, 16 Mar. 2026

One recent report found that 74 percent of U.S. cord-cutters canceled a streaming subscription in the past year, often because of rising prices or cheaper alternatives. —Kolawole Samuel Adebayo, Forbes.com, 25 Jan. 2026

The good news for cord-cutters? —Jenzia Burgos, StyleCaster, 1 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1998, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for cord-cutter

• stonecutter
• woodcutter
• butter
• clutter
• cutter
• flutter
• gutter
• mutter
• nutter
• putter
• rutter
• shutter