1.
to cut out; to quarry; to extract
To cut something out from a larger whole, such as cutting stone from a quarry or extracting material.
山から石を切り出す。
They quarry stone from the mountain.
2.
to bring up (a topic); to broach
To start talking about something, especially a difficult or delicate subject.
話を切り出すタイミングが難しい。
It's hard to find the right timing to bring up the topic.
彼女は別れ話を切り出した。
She brought up the subject of breaking up.
CONJUGATION:
- 切り出す → 切り出さない (negative)
- 切り出す → 切り出して (te-form)
- 切り出す → 切り出した (past)
FORMATION:
Compound verb: 切る (to cut) + 出す (to take out, to begin)
USAGE:
Sense 2 (broaching a topic) is more common in everyday conversation:
- 話を切り出す (to bring up a topic)
- 本題を切り出す (to get to the main point)
- なかなか切り出せない (unable to bring oneself to bring it up)
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 持ち出す - to bring up, to take out
- 言い出す - to start saying
Related Words
Related:
切る (to cut)