trenchant

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“
So trenchant was the Templar's weapon, that it shore asunder, as it had been a willow twig, the tough and plaited handle of the mace, which the ill-fated Saxon reared to parry the blow, and, descending on his head, levelled him with the earth.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Forceful, effective, and vigorous: a trenchant argument. See Synonyms at incisive.
  2. adjective Caustic; cutting: trenchant criticism.
  3. adjective Distinct; clear-cut.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Finally back in print after a prolonged absence, The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 14: The Early '80s and Weirdo Magazine continues the multi-volume series comprising the complete works of the legendary cartoonist R. Crumb, one of America's most original, trenchant, and uncompromising artists. —  ComicList Headlines
  • Nothing seems false, mind you, but neither does it seem particularly trenchant or specific. —  GreenCine Daily
  • "The movie paints a tragic picture of mindless, aimless, violent and destructive behavior," Ebert notes, nevertheless endorsing the saga as a trenchant read of contemporary youth culture. —  Gawker
  • Our correspondent said Mr McBride, who has worked for Gordon Brown for many years, became unpopular with some MP s for his trenchant briefings to journalists —  BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition
  • No more elaborate, trenchant, and unflinching attack on the very fundamental propositions of theology, natural or revealed, is to be found in literature. —  Diderot and the Encyclopædists Volume II.
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

incisive ·  epigrammatic ·  scathing ·  caustic ·  succinct ·  forceful ·  cogent ·  pithy ·  curt ·  lucid ·  ill-natured ·  laconic
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, cutting, from present participle of trenchier, to cut; see trench.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English trenchant, trenchaunt, from Old French trenchant, French tranchant, present participle of trencher, cut: see trench, v.
 

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/ˈtrɛntʃənt/
by American Heritage

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