trenchant

[ tren-chuhnt ]

adjective

1. incisive or keen, as language or a person; caustic; cutting:

   trenchant wit.

   Synonyms: acute, biting, sharp

2. vigorous; effective; energetic:

   a trenchant policy of political reform.

3. clearly or sharply defined; clear-cut; distinct.

trenchant

/ ˈtrɛntʃənt /

adjective

1. keen or incisive

   trenchant criticism

2. vigorous and effective

   a trenchant foreign policy

3. distinctly defined

   a trenchant outline

4. archaic.
   sharp

   a trenchant sword

Derived Forms

• ˈtrenchantly, adverb
• ˈtrenchancy, noun

Other Words From

• trenchan·cy noun
• trenchant·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of trenchant¹

1275–1325; Middle English tranchaunt < Anglo-French; Old French trenchant, present participle of trenchier to cut. See trench, -ant

Word History and Origins

Origin of trenchant¹

C14: from Old French trenchant cutting, from trenchier to cut; see trench

Example Sentences

Smith understood how her features cut into and through a role – wide eyes amply lidded, trenchant cheekbones, features that one might associate with snobbery.

From Salon

Her work builds on a simple but trenchant observation: In the long history of Western painting, monumental portraits of Black women are almost nonexistent.

From Los Angeles Times

But the most spirited discussions at Cannes are over whether the movie is trenchant or skin-deep.

From New York Times

Another of them, rendered almost invisibly in shellac on deep cobalt blue moiré, circles around to give the exhibition its trenchant title: “Now then, as I was about to say …”

From Los Angeles Times

But two of the president’s most trenchant Democratic critics around the war, Representatives Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have not promoted it.

From New York Times

Related Words

• acerbic
• biting
• caustic
• incisive
• mordant
• penetrating
• pointed
• pungent
• salient
• unsparing