verb
Meaning 1
To cut down or reduce.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
retrench
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/
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General-American: /ɹəˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛntʃ
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CMU ARPABET: R IY0 T R EH1 N CH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
verb
Meaning 2
To cut down or reduce.
To terminate the employment of a worker to reduce the size of a workforce; to make redundant.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: specifically, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: fire, let go, sack, axe, can, decruit, dehire, discard, remove, discharge, dismiss, downsize, give the axe, give someone the boot, give someone their cards, give the chop, give the elbow, give someone the heave-ho, give someone the old heave-ho, lay off, let someone go, make redundant, pink slip, promote to customer, retrench, serve notice, shit-can, term, terminate, throw out, unhire
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To confine; to limit; to restrict.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To furnish with a retrenchment (a defensive work within a fortification).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Topics: government, military, politics, war
Examples
- to retrench bastions
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To abridge; to curtail.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To take up a new defensive position.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Examples
- We must retrench and try to hold on long enough for products in development to reach the market or we will be out of business.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To live less expensively; to economize.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
To dig or redig a trench where one already exists.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 9
make a reduction, as in one's workforce
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- The company had to retrench
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: reduce, cut down, cut back, trim, trim down, trim back, cut, bring down
verb
Meaning 10
tighten one's belt; use resources carefully
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: conserve, husband, economize, economise
History
Etymology
From Old French retranchier (“to get rid of, remove”) (modern French retrancher (“to cut out, take away; to cut off; to cut down”)), from re- (“again”) + tranchier, trenchier (“to cut”) (modern French trancher (“to slice”)); further etymology uncertain, but possibly either from Vulgar Latin *trinicāre (“cut in three parts”) (from the root trini from trēs (“three”), based on the model of duplicāre (“to double by dividing, split in two, tear”)), or from an alteration of Latin truncāre (“to maim by cutting off pieces; to truncate”), also possibly influenced by Gaulish *trincare (“to cut (the head)”). Compare English trench.
Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re-der. Old French re-bor. Middle English re- English re- English trench English retrench From re- + trench.