Retrenches

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To carry out actions that lead to a reduction in spending or personnel in a business context
2. Implements measures to lower spending or reduce resources within an organization
3. Adopts steps to decrease financial outlay or lessen the workforce size in a company

Etymology: "Retrench" began as a cutting word. Old French "retranchier" meant "to get rid of, remove," and its modern descendant "retrancher" still means "to cut out" or "to cut down." The French verb combined "re-" ("again") with "tranchier" ("to cut"), the same root that gives modern French "trancher," "to slice." The deeper origin of that cutting root is debated: it may come from a Vulgar Latin verb meaning "cut in three parts," or from Latin "truncare," "to maim by cutting off pieces," possibly influenced by a Gaulish word meaning "to cut the head." English borrowed the verb from Old French in the Middle English period, and it kept the physical sense of cutting away or trimming. Its modern meaning, to reduce spending or resources, is a figurative extension of that sense: an organization that trims its budget is cutting off parts of itself, much as a gardener cuts back a plant. The English word "trench," which means a long cut in the ground, is related, and the two words sit side by side as cousins sharing the same cutting root.

Synonyms: reduces, cuts back, retrench, downsizes, diminishes

Antonyms: expands, increases, grows, augments, enlarges