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The word trenchant comes from the Anglo-French verb trencher, meaning "to cut," and may ultimately derive from the Vulgar Latin trinicare, meaning "to cut in three." Hence, a trenchant sword is one with a keen edge; a trenchant remark is one that cuts deep; and a trenchant observation is one that cuts to the heart of the matter. Relatives of trenchant in English include the noun trench ("a long ditch cut into the ground") and the verb retrench ("to cut down or pare away" or "to cut down expenses").

Examples of trenchant in a Sentence

a writer with a trenchant wit even the most trenchant sword could not sever the bonds of loyalty between them

Recent Examples on the Web They Live cuts its trenchant social critique with action-movie silliness — case in point: an infamous, hilarious fight sequence that goes on for six minutes for no particular reason — and highly quotable dialogue. — Katie Rife, EW.com, 17 June 2022 Written and to be directed by Passó, a playwright, director and actress, a movie that delivers a trenchant family metaphor for Brazil. — John Hopewell, Variety, 25 May 2022 The trenchant comedy is a tough love letter to their native Bay Area, about two best friends navigating gentrification, police brutality and a shifting sense of belonging. — Naveen Kumar, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 June 2022 Journalists and activists like Aakar Patel and Rana Ayyub, who have been trenchant critics of India’s government, have been piled with look-out notices and subjected to probes. — Manavi Kapur, Quartz, 15 Apr. 2022 The compendium of National Review journalism expressing a trenchant hostility to despotism is legendary. — Peter J. Travers, National Review, 29 Mar. 2022 The bossa nova pattern and strings return, but the general tranquility is interrupted by a trenchant guitar solo about halfway through, only to restore its former quietude a little while later. — Grant Sharples, SPIN, 6 Apr. 2022 Her trenchant belief that America was indispensable to global peace and progress led Albright to support military action against Iraq in 1998 and Serbia in 1999. — Peter Harris, The Conversation, 24 Mar. 2022 Its thoughts on class warfare and the complacent villainy of the one percent, too, don't feel particularly fresh or trenchant in the recent wake of far sharper takes by the likes of Parasite and HBO's White Lotus. — Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 18 Mar. 2022 See More

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