cutup

1 of 2

noun

cut·​up ˈkət-ˌəp 

: a person who clowns or acts boisterously

cut up

2 of 2

verb

cut up; cutting up; cuts up

transitive verb

1

a

: to cut into parts or pieces

b

: to injure or damage by or as if by cutting : gash, slash

2

: to subject to hostile criticism : censure

intransitive verb

1

: to undergo being cut up

2

: to behave in a comic, boisterous, or unruly manner : clown

Synonyms

Verb

• act up
• show off
• horse around
• fool around
• clown (around)
• revel
• monkey (around)

Examples of cutup in a Sentence

Noun

In school he was always a cutup, telling jokes and acting silly.

Verb

high-spirited cousins who cut up at every family gathering

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The scouts are getting an in-person look at the opposing players and game plan, and are on the lookout for anything the all-22 cutups can’t pick up, because the pieces of film are clipped closer to the snap itself. —Jourdan Rodrigue, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025

Martinez was looking at cutups Monday morning of 6-6, 20-year-old right-hander Travis Sykora, Washington’s third-round pick in 2023, who’s coming on, uh, quickly. —David Aldridge, The Athletic, 27 Aug. 2024

Verb

The boat therefore needed metal or plastic cages installed around the engines, so that the diver wouldn’t get accidentally cut up by their blades — and finding a boat and then the right cages fit onto the boat would take time. —Samanth Subramanian, The Dial, 14 Oct. 2025

Techniques like this have been around for some time, but Micro-C uses an enzyme that can cut up DNA more finely than before. —Quanta Magazine, 8 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1843, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1580, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Rhymes for cutup

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup

Kids Definition

cutup

1 of 2 noun

cut·​up ˈkət-ˌəp 

: a person who clowns or acts noisily

cut up

2 of 2 verb

ˈkət-ˈəp

: to act like a clown