To Cut Off
To Quit Doing Something
transitive verb, godan verb
Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means cut off so the verb vocab version is to cut off.
This is often used metaphorically to describe cutting off things that tie us down mentally or societally. This includes ending bad habits, so it also means to quit doing something.
Don't confuse this with 断る which means "to refuse." You know this is to cut off because of the つ, which hints that you have had two (つ) too many chocolates, and it's time to cut you off.
URGH! The reading isn't even the same as 断る, how frustrating. to cut off is read as たつ. Instead of eating too many chocolates and getting cut off, maybe you're eating too many tater tots (たつ). Don't eat so many of those, it's unhealthy. You have to cut off tater tots from your diet so you don't get fat.
これでもう逃げ道は断たれてしまった。
This means that there's no longer any way to escape.
お酒とタバコを断つべきだってのは、自分でも分かってます。医者にも断つように言われたんですが、すぐには無理ですよ。
I know that I should cut out alcohol and cigarettes. My doctor also told me to cut them out, but there’s no way I could do so right away.
あの時は、はらわたを断つ思いで別れを告げたんだ。
At that time, I said goodbye with a gut-wrenching feeling.
フェミニズムの目的は、女性を縛る鎖を断つことです。「女性らしさを失う」ことを押し付けるのではなく、「女性はこうあるべきだ」という抑圧への抵抗なんです。
The goal of feminism is to sever the chains that bind women. It is not about forcing women to "lose their femininity," but about resisting the oppression of "this is how women are supposed to be.”