Meaning & use
trenches
Last updated
Long, narrow ditches dug in the ground, especially as fortified defensive positions in warfare.
See it in a sentence
Soldiers spent months living in the muddy trenches of the Western Front.
Aid volunteers described themselves as being in the trenches of the relief effort.
A note on using this word
The idiom 'in the trenches' is widely used figuratively for anyone doing difficult, unglamorous frontline work.
Words with a similar meaning
ditchesentrenchments
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Another way to use it
2. noun
the difficult, unglamorous front line of an effort or job (figurative)
After years in the trenches of customer support, she was finally promoted.
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