retrench

Syllables: re·trenchUK/ɹɪˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/US/ɹəˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

retrench verb: to cut down or reduce.

Verb (1)

retrench (third-person singular simple present retrenches, present participle retrenching, simple past and past participle retrenched)

(transitive) To cut down or reduce.
- O conſider my caſe, moſt blisfull Queen, […] Diſpell thoſe Clouds which hover 'twixt my King and his higheſt Counſell, […] that my great Law-making Court be forced to turn no more to polemicall Committees, […] but that they may come again to the old Parliamentary Rode, To the path of their...1645, James Howell, “England’s Tears, for the Present Wars, which for the Nature of the Quarrel, the Quality of the Strength, the Diversity of Battels, Skirmishes, Encounters, and Sieges, (Happened...
- Madam me no Madam, but learn to retrench your vvords; and ſay Mam; as yes Mam, and no Mam, as other Ladies VVomen do. Madam! 'tis a year in pronouncing.1668 June 22 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Dryden, An Evening’s Love, or The Mock-Astrologer. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published...
1. (specifically, transitive) To terminate the employment of a worker to reduce the size of a workforce; to make redundant.
  - This section prescribes that an employer shall ordinarily retrench the workman who was the last person to be employed in that category, unless for reasons to be recorded in writing, the employer retrenches any other workman.2017 July, P. K. Padhi, “The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947”, in Labour and Industrial Laws, 3rd edition, New Delhi: Asoke K. Ghosh, PHI Learning, →ISBN, page 238
2. (intransitive, transitive) To live less expensively; to economize.
(transitive) To confine; to limit; to restrict.
- They say of God—That He spreadeth forth the heavens as a tent to dwell in; and that as a garment, some time hence, He shall roll them together. These figures, ought they then to receive a retrenched interpretation? Ought they to be denuded of their oriental garb? Not so, […]1860, Isaac Taylor, “Essay VII. ‘Without Controversy.’”, in Logic in Theology and Other Essays. … With a Sketch of the Life of the Author and a Catalogue of His Writings, New York, N.Y.: William...
(transitive) To furnish with a retrenchment (a defensive work within a fortification).
- to retrench bastions
- The Half-Moon is a Work always raiſed before the Baſtion's Point, being ſo named from the Lowneſs of its Gorges Cavity, &c. and is to ſecure the Two Faces of the Baſtion; but when the Faces have but a weak Defence from the Ravelin, theſe Works are ſoon made uſeleſs or ruined, and give the Beſieged...1712, H[enry] Curzon, “Of Fortification”, in The Universal Library: Or, Compleat Summary of Science. Containing above Sixty Select Treatises. In Two Volumes. …, volume II, London: Printed for George...
(intransitive) To abridge; to curtail.
- But this thy glory ſhall be ſoon retrench'd; / No more ſhalt thou by oracling abuſe / The Gentiles; henceforth Oracles are ceaſt, / And thou no more with Pomp and Sacrifice / Shalt by enquir'd at Delphos or elſewhere, / At leaſt in vain, for they ſhall find thee mute.1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 25, lines 454–459
- Under the Obama doctrine, the United States accommodates and retrenches internationally in large part so the president can focus on leaving behind liberal domestic policy legacies. This entails targeted counterterrorist strikes and assertive foreign policy adjustments when necessary, but for the...2015, Colin Dueck, “The Domestic Politics of the Obama Doctrine”, in The Obama Doctrine: American Grand Strategy Today, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 109
(intransitive) To take up a new defensive position.
- 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.
- Whether we choose to live there or just retreat for a rest, the closet is a stronghold of gay life. Someday we'll force hets to deal with us out in the world, but for now, I guess it's better to retrench in the closet than never to come out at all.1981 August 22, Cindy Patton, “Warm Heart, Cool Politics”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 6, page 11

Verb (2)

retrench (third-person singular simple present retrenches, present participle retrenching, simple past and past participle retrenched)

(transitive) To dig or redig a trench where one already exists.
- The [fishing] technique was to clear the channel downstream from the lagoon for about twenty to forty yards, but not all the way to the salt water. A small "bridge" was left at the lower end of the lagoon. When holding pits had been dug near the end of the re-trenched channel and everyone was...2013, Jake Jacobson, “Getting White Fish for Winter Dog Food”, in Alaska Hunting: Earthworms to Elephants, Anchorage, Ak.: Publication Consultants, →ISBN

retrench meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

retrench in Tamil

சிக்கனப்படுத்து, மட்டுப்படுத்து, வெட்டிக்குறை

retrench in Urdu

خرچ کم کرنا, چھانٹی کرنا, کم کرنا, کٹائی کرنا

retrench in Malayalam

ചെലവു കുറയ്ക്കുക, മുറിക്കുക, സൈനികാവശ്യത്തിന് കിടങ്ങുകുഴിക്കുക

More languagesFewer languages

retrench in Kannada: ಕಡಿಮೆ ಮಾಡು, ತಗ್ಗಿಸು, ಖೋತಾ ಮಾಡು, ಮಿತಗೊಳಿಸು
retrench in Punjabi: ਘਟਾਉਣਾ ghaṭāuṇā

Examples of retrench in a sentence

Extinguiſh Vanity in the Mind, and you naturally retrench the little Superfluities of Garniture and Equipage.1711 March 16, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, editors, The Spectator, volume I, number 16, London: Printed for S[amuel] Buckley, at the...
I must desire that you will not think of enlarging your expenses, no not for some years to come, much less at present; but rather retrench them.1725 July 9, Jonathan Swift, “To Dr. [Thomas] Sheridan [letter]”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan...
And it would signal to a wider world that Britain is retrenching and not developing its infrastructure to enable growth.2023 October 4, Sir Michael Holden, “Comment: High noon for Sunak”, in RAIL, number 993, page 3:
Captain Allaud did not doubt that the principal attack would be directed towards the left bastion; he had the gorge of this bastion therefore retrenched during the night.1876, E[ugène] Viollet-le-Duc, “The Seventh Siege”, in Benjamin Bucknall, transl., Annals of a Fortress, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley]...

Synonyms of retrench

20 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of retrench

Forms of retrench

third-person singular present	retrenches
present participle	retrenching
past participle	retrenched
past	retrenched

Origin of retrench

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.

From re- + trench.

Words formed from retrench

Words that rhyme with retrench

11 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about retrench

What does retrench mean?: Retrench means to cut down or reduce.
What is retrench in Tamil?: Retrench in Tamil is சிக்கனப்படுத்து, மட்டுப்படுத்து, வெட்டிக்குறை. See Retrench meaning in Tamil.
How do you use retrench in a sentence?: Extinguiſh Vanity in the Mind, and you naturally retrench the little Superfluities of Garniture and Equipage.
What part of speech is retrench?: Retrench is a verb.
How do you pronounce retrench?: Retrench is pronounced /ɹɪˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of retrench?: The past tense of retrench is retrenched.

Words near retrench in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: retrench (page history and authors); retrench (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); retrench (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); retrench (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); retrench (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); retrench (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਘਟਾਉਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-retrench.ogg.

Cite this entry: “retrench.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/retrench. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.