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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

trench.

A long, narrow ditch or hole in the ground; either manmade, or formed naturally through erosion or tectonic plate movement.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/[ˈtɹ̝̊ʷɛnt͡ʃ][ˈt̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷɛnt͡ʃ]/ˈtɹɪnt͡ʃ/
  1. A long, narrow ditch or hole in the ground; either manmade, or formed naturally through erosion or tectonic plate movement.

    The trenches for installing the underground cables were dug with a trencher.
  2. A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.

    The soldiers in the trenches rely on logistical support.
  3. A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.

  4. A trench coat.

    informal
Where this word comes from

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trenche. Doublet of tranche and traunch. Possible doublet of English: truncate

verb/ˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/[ˈtɹ̝̊ʷɛnt͡ʃ][ˈt̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷɛnt͡ʃ]/ˈtɹɪnt͡ʃ/
  1. To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach.

    usually
  2. To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually perpendicular to the line of sight toward the enemy.

  3. To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.

  4. To have direction; to aim or tend.

  5. To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.

  6. To cut furrows or ditches in.

    to trench land for the purpose of draining it
  7. To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next.

    to trench a garden for certain crops
Where this word comes from

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trenche. Doublet of tranche and traunch. Possible doublet of English: truncate

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.