trenchant
incisive or keen, as language or a person; caustic; cutting: trenchant wit.
vigorous; effective; energetic: a trenchant policy of political reform.
clearly or sharply defined; clear-cut; distinct.
Origin of trenchant
1Other words for trenchant
Other words from trenchant
- trench·an·cy, noun
- trench·ant·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use trenchant in a sentence
The hypothesis has been severely handled, by none more trenchantly than by Professor Keith.
Prehistoric Man | W. L. H. DuckworthHis own feelings, most concisely put, most trenchantly interpreted!
Mrs. Maxon Protests | Anthony HopeHaughton tried to explain why the "bolting" so trenchantly referred to did not eventuate.
The Ebbing Of The Tide | Louis BeckeHe was still almost powerless to believe in his own impotency, which had been so trenchantly put before him by that gentleman.
Scarlet and Hyssop | E. F. BensonThe educations of the two sexes were so trenchantly separated that neither had access to the knowledge of the other.
The Intellectual Life | =Philip Gilbert Hamerton
British Dictionary definitions for trenchant
/ (ˈtrɛntʃənt) /
keen or incisive: trenchant criticism
vigorous and effective: a trenchant foreign policy
distinctly defined: a trenchant outline
archaic, or poetic sharp: a trenchant sword
Origin of trenchant
1Derived forms of trenchant
- trenchancy, noun
- trenchantly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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