Meaning & use
cropped
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“cropped” is a form of “crop”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive
Cut off the edges or parts of a photo or image so that only the main part remains.
Grammar: Past tense and past participle of crop; takes an object: she cropped the photo.
Patterns
- crop something out
- crop something to something
I cropped the photo to remove my brother from the corner.
She cropped the image so the face filled the frame.
He cropped out the date before posting the picture.
verbtransitive
Cut hair, grass or similar material very short.
Grammar: Takes an object: he cropped his hair.
Patterns
- crop something short
She cropped her hair for the summer.
The sheep cropped the grass close to the ground.
He cropped the hedge until it was neat.
adjectivebefore a noun
Cut or designed to be shorter than usual, such as a top ending above the waist, or hair cut very short.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: a cropped jacket.
Patterns
- cropped top
- cropped hair
She wore a cropped jacket with high-waisted jeans.
He has dark cropped hair.
The cropped trousers ended just above the ankle.
Word forms
| base form | crop |
|---|---|
| third person | crops |
| -ing form | cropping |
Common combinations
- cropped photo
- The cropped photo hid the messy room.
- cropped hair
- She has short cropped hair.
- cropped jacket
- A cropped jacket looks good with a dress.
- cropped trousers
- He wore cropped trousers and sandals.
- cropped out
- The extra people were cropped out of the picture.
Synonyms and how they differ
- trimmed
- Trimmed means tidied by cutting a little off, while cropped means cut short or cut away more sharply.
- clipped
- Clipped often describes hair or hedges cut with a single quick motion, whereas cropped suggests a deliberately short style.
- cut
- Cut is the general word for any cutting, while cropped suggests shortening or removing edges.
- shortened
- Shortened means made shorter in any way, while cropped suggests removing the outer part.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: cropped or copped?
cropped vs copped
Copped is an informal word meaning got or caught; cropped means cut short or trimmed.
Practice
I ___ the picture so that only the dog was visible.
Choose one answer.
Cropped means cut away the edges of an image. Dropped would change the meaning, and chopped up does not fit an image.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cropped”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.