Meaning & use
lop
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To cut something off with one quick, strong stroke, especially a branch or limb.
Grammar: Takes an object and is often followed by 'off': lop off a branch.
Patterns
- lop something off
- lop something off something
He lopped the dead branch off the apple tree with one swing.
The gardener lopped the top off the hedge.
She lopped the stalks and tossed them in a pile.
verbtransitivefigurativeinformal
To reduce something sharply, such as a cost, a total or a length.
Grammar: Figurative, with 'off': lop ten dollars off the price.
Patterns
- lop something off something
The store lopped twenty percent off the price of the sofa.
Cutting the detour lopped an hour off the trip.
The editor lopped the last chapter from the book.
Word forms
| third person singular | lops |
|---|---|
| past tense | lopped |
| past participle | lopped |
| -ing form | lopping |
Common combinations
- lop off
- He lopped off the dead branches.
- lop a branch
- She lopped a branch from the tree.
- lop the top
- The wind lopped the top of the pine.
- lop a few dollars off
- The dealer lopped a few dollars off the price.
- lop a minute off
- The new route lops a minute off the commute.
Synonyms and how they differ
- chop
- Chop is a general word for cutting with heavy blows and need not remove a whole part.
- prune
- Prune means to trim a plant carefully to help it grow, whereas lop is a rough, sudden cut.
- trim
- Trim means a neat, small cut, and lop is more drastic.
- sever
- Sever is more formal and means to cut completely through, with no focus on a single stroke.
Word family
Commonly confused: lop or lob? lop or loop?
lop vs lob
Lob means to throw in a high arc, whereas lop means to cut off.
lop vs loop
A loop is a curved shape, and has no meaning of cutting.
Practice
The farmer used a sharp tool to ___ the dead branch off the tree.
Choose one answer.
Lop off means to cut something away with a single stroke. Lob means to throw, and lope means to run with long strides.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “lop”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.