retrenches

verb

present tense third-person singular of retrench
as in cuts
formal to change the way things are done in order to spend less money When the economy slowed, the company was forced to retrench.

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of retrenches Maintaining multiple funding relationships can require more administrative effort, but diversification becomes extraordinarily valuable when one source of capital retrenches. — Erik Clarke, Forbes.com, 26 Oct. 2026 Guatemala became the third Latin American government to declare a state of emergency to combat gang violence, as the region retrenches around security. — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 21 Jan. 2026 If the United States further retrenches from Colombia, Beijing will seek to deepen its influence. — Kevin Whitaker, Foreign Affairs, 15 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for retrenches
  1. cuts
  2. reduces
  3. slashes
  4. decreases
  5. shrinks
  6. pares
  7. drops
Verb
  • Amendment 3 cuts only those taxes, imposing a $150,000 homestead tax exemption in 2027 rising to $250,000 the following year.
    — Martin E. Comas, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Nov. 2026
  • Planned cuts to the public university system, which represents a near-universal point of pride in the crisis-prone country, sent students into the streets.
    — Nicole Winfield, Chicago Tribune, 8 Nov. 2026
Definition of cuts
Verb
  • This reduces the computing work required to serve identical repository data repeatedly.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 3 Nov. 2026
  • The iron in lentils can help maintain healthy energy levels by being a component of hemoglobin in red blood cells, which delivers oxygen throughout the body and reduces fatigue.
    — Cristina Mutchler, Verywell Health, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of reduces
Verb
  • At room temperature, this microscopic waiting room slashes charge loss by a 75% compared to conventional materials.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Using a sharp knife, make crosswise slashes every 2 in [5 cm] along the body, cutting down to the bone.
    — Emma Specter, Vogue, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of slashes
Verb
  • Regular exercise also improves the non-REM phase (deep sleep in which the eyes do not move), and that also decreases with age.
    — Laura Solla, Vogue, 3 Nov. 2026
  • The team’s 40-man roster decreases to 39 with Monday’s moves.
    — LaMond Pope, Chicago Tribune, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of decreases
Verb
  • The council is expanding from seven members to nine, which shrinks each district from roughly 120,000 residents to about 95,000.
    — Adam Wood, Baltimore Sun, 2 Nov. 2026
  • The old twenty-to-thirty-point knowledge-benchmark gap has shrunk to three to five, and shrinks again at every open release.
    — Stephen Messer, Fortune, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of shrinks
Verb
  • Her music accordingly pares down the signature elements of a genre in which reckless abandon and defiant self-expression have long been central.
    — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 23 July 2026
  • In its fifth and final season, The Bear pares itself back.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 26 June 2026
Definition of pares
Verb
  • When the rhythm section drops away, her voice hangs among flute, synthesiser, and reverberation; when the rhythm returns, the bass feels newly physical.
    — Emma Madden, Pitchfork, 4 Nov. 2026
  • The main camera supports up to 2x digital zoom, but the quality drops significantly.
    — Kimberly Gedeon, PC Magazine, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of drops

Browse Nearby Words

retrenched
retrenches
retrenching
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Retrenches.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/retrenches. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of defer

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All