Definition of TRANCHE

Finance and Tranche

In French, tranche means "slice." Cutting deeper into the word's etymology, we find the Old French word trancer, meaning "to cut." Tranche emerged in the English language in the late 19th century to describe financial appropriations. Today, it is often used specifically of an issue of bonds that is differentiated from other issues by such factors as maturity or rate of return. Another use of the French word tranche is in the French phrase une tranche de vie, meaning "a cross section of life." That phrase was coined by the dramatist Jean Jullien (1854-1919), who advocated naturalism in the theater.

Examples of tranche in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That has left bondholders in the double-C tranche bracing for losses. — Ben Eisen, WSJ, "Investors Rev Up the Risk in Subprime Auto Deals," 1 Dec. 2018 Under a stand-by arrangement, Argentina will face regular reviews of its economic policies, and loan tranches will only be disbursed once the fund is satisfied progress is being made. — Andrew Mayeda, Bloomberg.com, "Argentina Seeks ‘Stand-By’ Agreement With IMF," 10 May 2018 The second tranche of sanctions, which will go into effect in 90 days if Russia doesn't curtail these activities, could potentially affect the ability of Aeroflot to fly or land anywhere in the United States. — Fox News, "Rep. Ed Royce on US relations with Russia, Turkey and Iran; Rep. Devin Nunes on Bruce Ohr and the push to declassify DOJ documents," 12 Aug. 2018 Correction: Accel is not leading the second tranche of the $200 million Bird fundraise as incorrectly mentioned in yesterday’s Term Sheet. — Polina Marinova, Fortune, "Term Sheet -- Thursday, June 14," 14 June 2018 Another trans-Atlantic showdown is looming as the Trump Administration prepares its next tranche of financial sanctions on Iran, and the puzzle is why Europe keeps backing itself into a corner. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, "Europe’s Not-So-Swift Diplomacy," 16 Oct. 2018 The first tranche on August 7 targeted Iran’s ability to purchase or acquire US dollar banknotes, trade in gold and precious metals, and make transactions related to the Iranian rial, the country’s currency. — Alex Ward, Vox, "The US will impose new sanctions on Iran next week," 2 Nov. 2018 More tranches of shares are expected to be sold over the next few years. — The Economist, "Business this week," 7 June 2018 The administration has also signaled its intention to apply tariffs to imports of as much as $150 billion in goods from China, and the first tranche of those tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports could be applied as early as June 15. — William Mauldin, WSJ, "Trump’s Trade Policies Threaten Millions of Jobs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Says," 31 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'tranche.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.