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Definition of "retrench" [re•trench]

  • To cut down; reduce. (verb-transitive)
  • To remove, delete, or omit. (verb-transitive)
  • To curtail expenses; economize. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "retrench" in a sentence
  • "The word retrench has appeared in 15 Times articles over the past year, including in a June 11, 2009 article"
  • "And in your view, are you going to continue with a lot of your niche publications or do you think that you are going to retrench -- in other words, what are your plans for some of these publications?"
  • "And what concerns me is, is that the United States of America will become fatigued when it comes to fighting off tyrants, or say it's too hard to spread liberty, or use the excuse that just because freedom hadn't flourished in parts of the world, therefore it's not worth trying, and that, as a result, we kind of retrench and lose confidence in our -- the values that have made us a great nation in the first place."