trenchant
/ˈtɹɛnʃənt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.35 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Keen; biting; vigorously articulate and effective; severe.
Example Sentences
- "The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty, / For want of fighting was grown rusty, / And ate into itself, for lack / Of somebody to hew and hack."
- "The trenchant talonid is a character of some miacids and distinguishes these teeth from the hyaenodontids and oxyaenids."
- "trenchant wit"
- "His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe."
- "His trenchant criticisms of the Church's repression […] include a discussion of the considerable 1938 success of the fledgling NODL in getting magazines removed from various points of sale."
Etymology
Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trenchant, the present participle of trenchier (“to cut”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -, trenchant
Usage
Inflected Forms
more trenchant (comparative)
most trenchant (superlative)
trenchaunt (alternative, obsolete)