Example: To cut a long story short, we missed the bus.
Definition
"To cut a long story short" is an expression used to indicate that the speaker is summarizing or skipping unnecessary details in a story or explanation, focusing only on the main point or outcome.
The phrase "to cut a long story short" originates from the idea of literally shortening a lengthy narrative. It dates back to at least the 17th century, reflecting the common desire to avoid lengthy explanations. Did you know it humorously suggests using scissors on storytelling?
Learn to use this expression actively
"To cut a long story short" appears in the Vocaplus list "English - General - Idioms and Proverbs - (C2) - set 1", containing 106 commonly used expressions.
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