collocation · neutral

cut back on spending

UK/kʌt bæk ɒn ˈspendɪŋ/US/kʌt bæk ɑn ˈspendɪŋ/cut BACK on SPEND·ing

Band 6-7speakingtask2

to reduce the amount of money you spend

Examples

“To save for a holiday they had to cut back on spending.”

“During the recession many households cut back on spending for non-essential goods.”

“Cutting back on spending helped them pay off their debts faster.”

Band 8 sentence

“To meet their financial goals they had to cut back on spending across the board.”

Collocations

  • cut back on unnecessary spending
  • cut back on luxuries

Word family

cut back phrasal verbspend / spending verb / nouncut down on phrasal verb (similar)

Common mistakes

cut spending off→cut back on spending / cut down on spending

cut back spending→cut back on spending

Say it for a higher band

5save money→6reduce spending→7+cut back on spending

Synonyms

reduce spending

Easily confused

cut down on spending

“Many families had to cut down on spending after losing income.”

save money

“To save money, she decided to cut back on spending.”

Related words

pay upfrontshop for groceriesin-store purchasefile a complaintconsumer rightsafford to buybuy on creditprice competition

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In Shopping & Money

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