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 But earlier tranches of tariffs, which fell more heavily on industrial components and machinery, will remain in effect. — New York Times, "Trump Officials Praise Gains From China Deal, but They Come at a Cost," 15 Dec. 2019 Promising to not implement the next tranche of tariffs would not suffice, the Global Times said. — Washington Post, "China urges rollback of US tariffs, Huawei exec’s release," 2 Dec. 2019 The fund is assessing Argentina’s new debt plan and considering whether to release the fund’s next loan tranche. — Michael Winfrey, Bloomberg.com, "IMF Board Selects Bulgaria’s Georgieva as Managing Director," 25 Sep. 2019 It was made in five tranches of $200,000 over the month of September, Oetken said, reading from a pile of documents that had been handed to him. — Christian Berthelsen, Fortune, "Giuliani Ally Got $1 Million From Ukraine Oligarch’s Lawyer," 18 Dec. 2019 The first letters signed by Duffey, on Aug. 3 and 6, withheld two tranches of money for Ukraine, one from the State Department and then another, larger amount from the Defense Department, according to the committee summary. — Garrett Haake, NBC News, "White House budget office formally held Ukraine aid on same day as Trump-Zelenskiy call," 26 Nov. 2019 The institutional tranche closed on Wednesday and attracted bids totaling 397 billion riyals. — Matthew Martin / Bloomberg, Time, "Saudi Arabia’s State-Owned Oil Giant Just Raised $25.6 Billion in the World’s Biggest-Ever IPO," 5 Dec. 2019 The Trump administration began imposing tariffs, including some consumer goods, in September, with another tranche planned for Dec. 15 — prime holiday shopping time in the U.S. — Rachel Layne, CBS News, "Joint U.S.-China opioid smuggling bust could speed trade deal," 5 Nov. 2019 Under the deal, McDermott immediately gained access to $650 million in cash and credit while the remaining funds will be disbursed in three more tranches scheduled to take place between Nov. 30 and March31, 2020. — Sergio Chapa, Houston Chronicle, "Troubled oil field service company McDermott lands $1.7 billion in new financing," 23 Oct. 2019

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.