Meaning & use
retrenchment
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountablebusiness
A reduction in spending or activity, especially by a company or government that is short of money.
Grammar: Uncountable; often followed by in or of: retrenchment in spending.
Patterns
- retrenchment in something
- a period of retrenchment
The company announced a period of retrenchment after poor sales.
Government retrenchment led to cuts in public services.
The school faced retrenchment when funding fell.
nouncountable or uncountableAustralian
The loss of jobs by workers because the employer cuts staff, mainly in some countries such as South Africa and Australia.
Grammar: Regional use meaning layoffs.
Patterns
- face retrenchment
Hundreds of workers faced retrenchment when the mine closed.
The union fought the retrenchment of staff.
Retrenchment notices arrived in March.
nouncountable or uncountableformal
A withdrawal to a more limited or defensive position, whether in business, politics, or the military.
Grammar: Often figurative.
Patterns
- retreat into retrenchment
The party moved into retrenchment after its election defeat.
Military retrenchment followed the loss of the fort.
The firm's retrenchment to its core products helped it survive.
Word forms
| plural | retrenchments |
|---|
Common combinations
- period of retrenchment
- The industry entered a period of retrenchment.
- economic retrenchment
- Economic retrenchment hurt small towns.
- fiscal retrenchment
- Fiscal retrenchment lowered the deficit.
- face retrenchment
- Many staff face retrenchment.
- policy of retrenchment
- The government adopted a policy of retrenchment.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cutbacks
- Cutbacks is a plainer word for reductions and is more common in everyday news.
- austerity
- Austerity is a government policy of strict spending cuts, with a political overtone.
- downsizing
- Downsizing refers mainly to reducing staff or size of a company.
- economizing
- Economizing means saving money carefully, usually in a personal setting.
Opposites
Word family
- retrench verb
- to reduce costs or spending
- retrenched adjective
- made redundant, or reduced
- trench noun
- a long narrow ditch, from which the word came
- entrench verb
- to establish firmly
Commonly confused: retrenchment or entrenchment?
retrenchment vs entrenchment
Entrenchment means being firmly fixed in position. It sounds similar but is not about cutting costs.
Practice
The firm announced retrenchment. What is most likely to happen?
Choose one answer.
Retrenchment means reducing spending, and often jobs, so the second option fits.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “retrenchment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.