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Cut a deal

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Cut a deal: to negotiate and reach a formal or informal agreement; the sharp decisiveness of "cut" implies that negotiation involves excising alternatives until a clean agreement remains.

Detailed Definition
Cut a deal means to make an agreement, bargain, compromise, or arrangement, often with practical or morally ambiguous implications. In poetry, the idiom can appear in poems about commerce, politics, marriage, betrayal, survival, or bargains with power. It has a transactional tone that can deliberately clash with lyric ideals of love, honour, or beauty. A poet might use it to expose how human relationships become negotiations. It can also suggest the cost of compromise: what is gained, what is surrendered, and who pays.
Example
Example in poetry:
A political poem might show two weary enemies cutting a deal under a broken flag; In satire, cut a deal can suggest compromise without honour; The phrase suits poems about negotiation, bargain, and moral cost; A poet could use it when survival demands practical choices.
Additional Notes
Cut a deal means negotiate an agreement, often with brisk, practical, or morally ambiguous overtones. In poetry it can introduce the language of commerce, politics, crime, or compromise. It is useful when ideals meet necessity, or when love, art, or conscience is treated transactionally. Students should note how the verb cut can imply sharpness, division, and possible loss.
Also Known As
make an agreement
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