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Cut no ice

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 no ice: to have no influence, effect, or persuasive power; the failed ice-cutting image suggests that the argument or effort simply does not penetrate or gain traction.

Detailed Definition
Cut no ice means to have no effect, make no impression, or fail to persuade. In poetry, the idiom can characterise emotional coldness, social refusal, judicial severity, or a speaker whose pleas are ignored. The phrase’s icy imagery suggests hardness, resistance, and unmelted feeling. It can be used in poems of rejection, protest, satire, or argument, especially where eloquence meets indifference. A poet may exploit the contrast between passionate speech and a world that remains frozen against it.
Example
Example in poetry:
A dramatic speaker might say flattery cuts no ice with a grieving queen; In satire, excuses cut no ice when evidence stands in daylight; The phrase suits poems where persuasion fails against firm judgement; A poet could use it to show emotional coldness or moral certainty.
Additional Notes
Cut no ice means fail to impress, persuade, or influence. The idiom may be connected with the difficulty of cutting ice without force, though its history is uncertain. In poetry it can describe emotional resistance, scepticism, or an argument that cannot penetrate. The phrase has a cool, hard texture, making it useful beside images of frost, glass, stone, and indifference.
Also Known As
have no effect
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