on the cutting-room floor

idiom

: removed from a movie or television show

The scene ended up on the cutting-room floor.

—often used figuratively

A lot of good ideas are rejected and end up on the cutting-room floor.

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Left on the cutting-room floor Even though the council met almost 98 percent of the county’s funding requests, some initiatives did not make it onto the final reconciliation list. —Katie Shepherd, Washington Post, 24 May 2023

Those were two of the wrong guesses — Bolts and Rangers — that wound up on the cutting-room floor in the hilarious person-on-the-street video the Tennessee Titans created for their schedule release. —Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2023

In one clip that Fox News left on the cutting-room floor, shared by Vice, the rapper reveals that he was vaccinated when questioned by Carlson about the COVID-19 pandemic and associated healthcare response. —Glenn Rowley, Billboard, 11 Oct. 2022

Is there more Manny on the cutting-room floor somewhere? —Vulture, 28 May 2022

The new edition, released Friday on vinyl, CD and digitally, includes a remaster of the original album as well as a bevy of additional tracks left on the cutting-room floor, most of them never before released. —Dallas News, 3 May 2022

In the past, any political differences among the cast could be edited out; major discussions about gender, race, class, or sexuality could be left on the cutting-room floor. —Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 29 Dec. 2021

This could leave many potential cures for various cancers on the cutting-room floor and leave young cancer scientists unable to get the financial backing theyneed to pursue innovative ideas. —Scientific American, 28 Dec. 2021

If expansion does continue, these programs may be the biggest names left on the cutting-room floor. —Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 12 Aug. 2021

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