Definition of RETRENCHMENT

retrenchment

Plural: retrenchments

Noun

  • entrenchment consisting of an additional interior fortification to prolong the defense
  • the reduction of expenditures in order to become financially stable
  • A curtailment or reduction.
  • A curtailment or reduction.
  • An act of reducing expenses; economizing.
  • A curtailment or reduction.
  • An act of terminating the employment of a worker or making an employee redundant, often to reduce expenses; a layoff.
  • Withdrawal.
  • 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.
  • The adoption of a defensive and hostile posture; refusal to compromise, radicalization.

Origin / Etymology

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.

Synonyms

curtailment, downsizing, cutback, cutting down, diminution, lessening

Scrabble Score: 19

retrenchment: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
retrenchment: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
retrenchment: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 22

retrenchment: valid Words With Friends Word