retrench
pronunciation
How to pronounce retrench in British English:
UK [rɪˈtrentʃ]
How to pronounce retrench in American English:
US [rɪˈtrɛntʃ]
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- Verb:
- tighten one's belt; use resources carefully
- make a reduction, as in one's workforce
Word Origin
- retrench
- retrench: [16] Retrench originally meant literally ‘dig a new trench as a second line of defence’. It was borrowed from early modern French retrencher, a descendant of Old French retrenchier. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and trenchier ‘cut off’ (source of English trench, trenchant, etc). The standard present-day sense of retrench, ‘cut back, economize’, first recorded in the 17th century, is a return to the underlying meaning of French retrencher.=> trench, trenchant
- retrench (v.1)
- 1590s, "dig a new trench as a second line of defense," 1590s, probably a back-formation from retrenchment in the military sense. Related: Retrenched; retrenching.
- retrench (v.2)
- "cut off, cut down, pare away" (expenses, etc.), 1620s, from obsolete French retrencher "to cut off, lessen, shorten" (Modern French retrancher, Old French retrenchier), from re- "back" (see re-) + Old French trenchier "to cut" (see trench). Related: Retrenched; retrenching.
Example
- 1. Is the credit crunch forcing firms to retrench directly ?
- 2. International firms could decide it is not cost-effective to keep open their other european offices and retrench to london .
- 3. The downturn in profitability will redraw the industry landscape , analysts and executives say , forcing traditional producers to retrench and consolidate , and accentuating the rise of china as an aluminium powerhouse .
- 4. But is it already time to retrench ?
- 5. Next , we need to retrench , to reconsider the direction of research on this disease .