1
: characterized or developed by felling and burning trees to clear land especially for temporary agriculture
2
: extremely ruthless and unsparing
slash-and-burn tactics
slash-and-burn criticism

Examples of slash-and-burn in a Sentence

under his slash-and-burn management ethic, even longtime employees were summarily downsized for the sake of corporate competitiveness
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The push by Trump and Elon Musk, who led DOGE before leaving the White House in May, drew widespread condemnation over the administration's slash-and-burn approach to shrinking the bureaucracy. Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Aug. 2025 And so for Washington legislators focused on that competition, the Trump administration’s slash-and-burn approach to public diplomacy has been particularly hard to figure out. Ben Smith, semafor.com, 4 Aug. 2025 Trump’s slash-and-burn attack on our nation’s arts and culture industry can only be blamed for so much. Duante Beddingfield, Freep.com, 18 July 2025 The state initiatives have a markedly different character from Trump’s slash-and-burn approach, symbolized by Musk’s chain saw-brandishing appearance at a Conservative Political Action Committee appearance in February. Marc Levy, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2025 That practice, known as slash-and-burn farming, actually began 12,000 years ago, though it didn’t get started in earnest in North America until 1500 when European settlers arrived. Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 3 July 2025 The work draws from images of gold mining in the Amazon, referencing extractive practices like logging and slash-and-burn farming. Nel-Olivia Waga, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025 Trump’s slash-and-burn approach to reform — on issues as varied as immigration enforcement to Medicaid to Veterans Affairs and COVID-19 shots, just for starters, will take a strong pushback just to land somewhere near the ever-elusive sensible center. Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 1 June 2025 Supporters see him as an eccentric genius whose slash-and-burn management style is key to his success. Kirsten Grind, New York Times, 30 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1939, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of slash-and-burn was in 1939

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Cite this Entry

“Slash-and-burn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slash-and-burn. Accessed 30 Aug. 2025.

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