retrench

[ ri-trench ]

verb (used with object)

1. to cut down, reduce, or diminish; curtail (expenses).

   Synonyms: cut, abridge, decrease

2. to cut off or remove.
3. Military. to protect by a retrenchment.

verb (used without object)

1. to economize; reduce expenses:

   They retrenched by eliminating half of the workers.

retrench

/ rɪˈtrɛntʃ /

verb

1. to reduce or curtail (costs); economize
2. tr to shorten, delete, or abridge
3. tr to protect by a retrenchment

Derived Forms

• reˈtrenchable, adjective

Other Words From

• re·trencha·ble adjective
• re·trencher noun
• unre·trencha·ble adjective
• unre·trenched adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of retrench¹

1600–10; < French retrencher (obsolete variant of retrancher ), Middle French retrenchier, equivalent to re- re- + trenchier to trench

Word History and Origins

Origin of retrench¹

C17: from Old French retrenchier , from re- + trenchier to cut, from Latin truncāre to lop; see trench

Example Sentences

Whether those future installments continue to expand the Ghostbusters world or retrench in the familiar remains to be seen.

From Time

Now cities such as Portland, considered among the most ambitious in moving to reshape its police force, have retrenched.

From Washington Post

Tim PetersonPublishers are going to be wringing more out of what they already haveAfter a few years of exploring ways to diversify revenue, publishers are going to spend the first half of the year retrenching around what works.

From Digiday

After briefly retrenching at the beginning of the pandemic, home sales soared.

From Washington Post

Indeed, in Europe, the company has retrenched its third-party data targeting product offering.

From Digiday

Their instinct is to hold their ground rather than retrench, advance rather than retreat, intimidate rather than negotiate.

From The Daily Beast

He pleases me very much by saying that he finds not a sentence that he can retrench in the first volume of "The Mill."

From Project Gutenberg

If the fancy of Ovid be luxuriant it is his character to be so; and if I retrench it he is no longer Ovid.

From Project Gutenberg

One of the hardest words a missionary can get from his Home Board is the word "retrench."

From Project Gutenberg

Charles really wished to retrench his expenses; but Mrs. Germaine's pride was an insuperable obstacle to all his plans of economy.

From Project Gutenberg

How could it be that a man who had so much wit, had not enough to retrench these egregious faults?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• conserve
• curtail
• cut down