Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Undercut for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Today's word is "undercut" — a verb and noun, pronounced /ˌʌn.dəˈkʌt/, with stress shifting in speech.
Narrator: To undercut means to sell cheaper than a rival, or to weaken something by working against it from below.
Narrator: In plain English, to undercut is to beat a competitor's price, or to quietly undermine someone's position.
Narrator: As a noun, an undercut is also a haircut shaved short underneath, and a cut beneath a surface.
Narrator: The word is a compound: "under", meaning beneath, joined with "cut", to slice or reduce.
Narrator: It began literally — cutting away material from below — then spread to prices and power.
Narrator: In business it means pricing lower; in arguments, it means weakening another's stance from underneath.
Narrator: In tone it's everyday and competitive, common in trade, debate, sport, and even hairdressing.
Narrator: So remember: to undercut is to cut from below — beating a price or quietly weakening a position.
Speaker A: The new shop is trying to undercut us on every single product.
Speaker B: Typical. To undercut means to sell cheaper just to win customers.
Speaker A: Exactly. "They undercut our prices" — they went lower to beat us.
Speaker B: Right. But undercut also means to weaken — "that undercut his argument".
Speaker A: Yes, quietly working against something from underneath.
Speaker B: A common mistake is forgetting the two senses — price and undermining.
Speaker A: Good point. Context tells you which one is meant.
Speaker B: Close synonyms? "Undersell" for price, "undermine" for weakening.
Speaker A: And "sabotage" when the undermining is deliberate.
Speaker B: So they undercut us, but our quality wins in the end.
Speaker A: Cheaper isn't always better.
Speaker B: That's how to answer an undercut.
Speaker B: Let's use "undercut" in prompts for pricing tools and competitive comparison features.
Speaker A: So "undercut" anchors a prompt to pricing strategy?
Speaker B: Exactly. For a pricing tool, you'd write:
Prompt: Build a pricing tool that flags when a competitor could undercut us. Compare our prices to theirs, highlight any item they undercut, and suggest a safe new price that still earns a profit.
Speaker B: The word "undercut" tells the model exactly the competitive logic we want.
Speaker A: Useful. What about a dashboard?
Speaker B: Try this:
Prompt: Create a dashboard showing where rivals undercut our prices. Sort by the biggest undercut first, so the team sees instantly which products are being beaten and by how much.
Speaker A: So we react fast.
Speaker B: Right. For the database:
Prompt: Design a schema to track competitor prices over time. Store each undercut event with date and amount, and index by product so we can chart how often each item gets undercut.
Speaker A: Clear history. What about alerts?
Speaker B: Here you go:
Prompt: Add an alert that fires when a rival tries to undercut us by more than ten percent. Notify the pricing team at once, so a serious undercut never goes unnoticed for long.
Speaker A: Could it suggest a response?
Speaker B: Yes:
Prompt: When a product is undercut, suggest a smart counter-price. Avoid a race to the bottom, so we answer the undercut while still protecting our margin sensibly.
Speaker A: So "undercut" means beating on price.
Speaker B: Exactly — a sharp word for competitive pricing tools.
Undercut — meaning in Arabic & definition More U courses GL Dictionary