cut a (wide) swath

1. To garner attention. Cindy is such a talented designer that I'm sure her gowns will cut a swath in the fashion world. Of course the local newspaper wants to interview my brother—he's the star athlete of our high school, so he's cut a wide swath in our area. If you do well with this project, you could cut a swath in the C-suite.

2. To cause a lot of damage or suffering in a specific area or population. It seems that the high winds cut a wide swath through our neighborhood last night, blowing down trees and power lines on nearly every street. Severe malnourishment has certainly cut a swath through this part of the globe. The wildfires have cut a wide swath through forests all across California.

cut a (wide) swath, to

To make a showy display, to attract attention. The term originated in America and comes from mowing, a “swath” being the amount cut by one big sweep of the scythe. It was transferred to human showoffs by the mid-nineteenth century. “How he was a strutting up the sidewalk—didn’t he cut a swath!” wrote Ann S. Stephens in High Life in New York (1843). It is heard less often today, but has not quite died out.