Standard Lemma guide
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.
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noun
A curtailment or reduction.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: cutting down, diminution, lessening
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A curtailment or reduction.
An act of reducing expenses; economizing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, specifically, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: cutting down, diminution, lessening, cutback
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A curtailment or reduction.
An act of terminating the employment of a worker or making an employee redundant, often to reduce expenses; a layoff.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, specifically, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: cutting down, diminution, lessening
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Withdrawal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A defensive work constructed within a fortification to make it more defensible by allowing defenders to retreat into and fight from it even after the enemy has taken the outer work.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The adoption of a defensive and hostile posture; refusal to compromise, radicalization.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, especially, uncountable
Topics: government, politics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
the reduction of expenditures in order to become financially stable
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: curtailment, downsizing
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: economy, saving
noun
entrenchment consisting of an additional interior fortification to prolong the defense
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: entrenchment, intrenchment
History
Probably partly from both of the following: * Middle French retrenchement, retranchement (“removal of a portion from a larger whole; reduction of expenses”) (modern French retranchement (“deduction, subtraction”)), from retrancher, retranchier (“to get rid of, remove completely; to remove a portion from a larger whole; to reduce expenses; to deprive (oneself) of”) [and other forms] + -ment (suffix forming nouns usually of an action or a state resulting from an action). Retrancher and retranchier are derived from Old French re- (prefix meaning ‘again, once more’) + tranchier, trenchier (“to cut”) [and other forms] (modern French trancher (“to slice”)); the further etymology is uncertain, but one possibility is that the Old French words are from Latin truncāre, the present active infinitive of truncō (“to mutilate by cutting off pieces; to truncate”), from truncus (“tree trunk; piece cut off”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *twerḱ- (“to carve; to cut off, trim”). * retrench (“to cut down, reduce; to reduce expenses; to make (an employee) redundant”) + -ment. Retrench is derived from Middle French retrancher, retranchier: see above.
Probably either from: * Middle French retranchement (“defensive work”) (modern French retranchement (“entrenchment”)), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again, once more’) + tranche (“trench”) + -ment (suffix forming nouns usually of an action or a state resulting from an action); or * retrench (“to construct one or more retrenchments; to protect using retrenchments; to fortify”) + -ment. Retrench is probably derived from Middle French retrancher, retranchier (“to fortify with trenches and banks”), from Old French re- + tranchier, trenchier (“to cut”); see further at etymology 1.
Internal formation from retrench (“take up a defensive position”) + -ment, possibly reinforced by misinterpretation of Etymology 1.
Across languages
14 source translations are retained for this English entry.
