From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcut across something phrasal verbEFFECT/INFLUENCEif a problem or feeling cuts across different groups of people, they are all affected by it Domestic violence seems to cut across most social divisions. → cut→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
cut across • Gaudi captures that peculiar living response which cuts across a square campus lawn and traces a graceful curving shortcut.• The movement for ballot initiatives has cut across party lines.• Former railroad rights of way cut across river bottoms that used to be littered with bustling towns.• Critics say the project will cut across the Bibi river, cutting off most of the water that feeds the lake.• There was little soft snow and the ponies had no difficulty whatsoever negotiating the few small crevasses that cut across the route.• The poll tax cut across this, with its concept of a universal obligation.• There's a network of country roads south that cut across to the coast.• They fled south along the edge of the plowed field, then cut across toward Highway 18. 