Omitting necessary steps — cutting corners or skimping on work, resulting in lower quality.
こんな安い材料を使うのは手抜きだ。
Using such cheap materials is cutting corners.
工事で手抜きがあったことが発覚した。
It was revealed that there was shoddy work in the construction.
料理で手抜きすると味が落ちる。
If you cut corners when cooking, the taste suffers.
Intentional negligence — deliberately doing a job carelessly or half-heartedly.
手抜きして時間を稼ごうとしたが、すぐにばれた。
He tried to buy time by cutting corners, but was quickly found out.
品質管理のミスは手抜きが原因だった。
The quality control error was caused by negligence.
A go (board game) term: tenuki — playing elsewhere instead of directly responding to the opponent's last move.
囲碁であえて手抜きをして外に打つこともある。
In go, sometimes you intentionally tenuki and play elsewhere.