cut-and-dried

or cut-and-dry

[ kuht-n-drahyd ]

adjective

1. prepared or settled in advance; not needing much thought or discussion:

   a cut-and-dried decision.

2. lacking in originality or spontaneity; routine; boring:

   a lecture that was cut-and-dried.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cut-and-dried¹

First recorded in 1700–10

Idioms and Phrases

Ready-made, predetermined and not changeable. For example, The procedure is not quite cut and dried—there's definitely room for improvisation . This expression originally alluded to herbs for sale in a shop, as opposed to fresh, growing herbs. [c. 1900]

Example Sentences

The complex interactions of fluid and soft matter physics prove challenging to simplify into cut-and-dried formulae.

From Science Daily

She has taken a cut-and-dried case based on overwhelming evidence and made it a long shot to be tried this year, when it matters most.

From Seattle Times

That’s because of two aspects that are anything but cut-and-dried: copyright law and a new technology.

From Los Angeles Times

Because nothing in science is ever that cut-and-dried, however, it’s not quite that simple.

From Scientific American

Yet the truth may not be as cut-and-dried as company stats make it seem, says Steven Shladover, an engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, who has been studying vehicle automation for 50 years.

From Scientific American