Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To cut off; pare away; prune.
- To deprive by cutting off; mutilate.
- To cut down; reduce in size, number, extent, or amount; curtail; diminish; lessen.
- To cut short; abridge.
- To limit; restrict.
- Milit.: To furnish with a retrenchment or retrenchments.
- To intrench.
- To make a reduction in quantity, amount, or extent; especially, to curtail expenses; economize.
- To trench; encroach; make inroads.
Wiktionary
- v. To cut down or reduce something
- v. To dig or redig a trench where one already was.
- v. To take up a new defensive position (from military term retrenchment)
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To cut off; to pare away.
- v. To lessen; to abridge; to curtail.
- v. To confine; to limit; to restrict.
- v. (Fort.) To furnish with a retrenchment.
- v. To cause or suffer retrenchment; specifically, to cut down living expenses.
WordNet 3.0
- v. make a reduction, as in one's workforce
- v. tighten one's belt; use resources carefully
Etymologies
- Obsolete French retrencher, from Old French retrenchier : re-, re- + trenchier, to cut; see trench. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word retrench has appeared in 15 Times articles over the past year, including in a June 11, 2009 article”
“And in your view, are you going to continue with a lot of your niche publications or do you think that you are going to retrench -- in other words, what are your plans for some of these publications?”
pfblogs.org: The Ad-Free Personal Finance Blogs Aggregator (real estate blogs)
“And what concerns me is, is that the United States of America will become fatigued when it comes to fighting off tyrants, or say it's too hard to spread liberty, or use the excuse that just because freedom hadn't flourished in parts of the world, therefore it's not worth trying, and that, as a result, we kind of retrench and lose confidence in our -- the values that have made us a great nation in the first place.”
“Most prime customers simply retrench and deal with it, but I've had several conversations with subprime customers who know they are going to lose the house.”
Housing Market Uncertainties, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“In Asia, many central banks have been tightening policy to fight inflation, weighing on businesses just as key export markets retrench.”
“After a long flight back to Arizona, the coaching staff decided to retrench with a back-to-basics practice approach after the team lost four of its final six games following a 7-3 start.”
“WSJ Reporter Liz Rappaport reports moves by banks retrench by announcing layoffs and cutting costs across the board, including Credit Suisse and UBS.”
“AMR insists it won't retrench from its five market hubs, but some analysts say its American Airlines will have to get smaller to thrive.”
“As our competitors retrench, this creates additional opportunities for us to continue to take market share.”
“In environments of financial repression, businesses are keener to retrench than recommit their time, energy and capital to new projects.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘retrench’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, approbation, orator, peroration, Cicero, eloquence, elocution, rhetoric, premeditate, plead, Isocrates and 264 more...
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Words for financial performance
Business and financial journalists tend to use the same tired few words to describe what happens to economies, markets and prices. Enough of grow, soar, boom, crash, bust, collapse and so on. Let's...
swell, inflate, dilate, mount, accrue, magnify, amplify, blossom, fatten up, dwindle, dissipate, shrivel and 31 more...
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GRE
GRE words from Princeton Review guide, ETS GRE Book from 2010 (for revised test), New Yorker/NY Times articles.
sycophant, obsequious, volubility, equanimity, enervate, effrontery, impertinent, platitude, impudence, quiescent, propitiate, equivocate and 124 more...
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GRE Practice
coruscate, preternatural, preclude, retrench, perfidy, sophistry, sedulous, martinet, churlish, dissembler, prevarication, impugn and 38 more...
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GRE Words From GRE Tests
risqué, wafted, improvisation, retrench, rebuked, perfidy, sophistry, sedulous, coruscate, debilitating, preternatural, teleological and 5 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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samuraizack's Words
floccinaucinihili..., pneumonoultramicr..., bombastic, existentialistic, velocipede, aglet, anatomical snuffbox, wonk, tang, funambulist, quakebuttock, flews and 390 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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GRE 3500 Q
quadruped, quaff, quaint, quandary, quarry, quay, queasy, quell, querulous, quibble, quietude, quip and 89 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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GRE uncommon
patronage, expletive, exhort, exegesis, execrable, excommunicate, evince, escarpment, ersatz, ergo, epoxy, snare and 1202 more...
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an arch manner
delightful Janeisms and Regency terms; the vocabulary of the business of captivation
archly, captivating, chaise-and-four, empire waist, pianoforte, barouche-landeau, curricle, greatcoat, connexions, elegant, accomplished, sensibility and 12 more...
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rduke's Words
misguggle, ken, sere, etiolated, gelid, digladiate, popinjay, bathykolpian, conglaciation, hyperborean, callipygian, vagile and 1253 more...
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50 Word Psycho Thriller
survivor, jaded, defenestration, dodge, lunge, resurrection, sobbing, relief, tongue, lolling, pool cue, impale and 38 more...
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