EN

Synonyms for retrench

30 synonyms
2 meanings

verb

Most common

dismiss curtail pare

Synonyms by meaning

Verb

1. Remove — to cut down or reduce. To terminate the employment of a worker to reduce the size of a workforce; to make…

let go, remove, dismiss, fire, sack, discharge, abate, discard

2. Curtail

curtail, cut, pare, decrease, reduce, cut short, diminish, lessen, prune, truncate, shorten, abridge, contract, abbreviate, dock, clip, compress, trim, lop, condense, epitomize UK US, epitomise UK, foreshorten

Definitions

v. 1
To cut down or reduce. To terminate the employment of a worker to reduce the size of a workforce; to make redundant.
v. 2
To cut down or reduce.

Related words

Word family: retrenchment

Forms

Past participle: retrenched
e.g. retrenched → removed, dismissed, fired, sacked…

Example sentences

dismiss Sami's attorney filed a motion to dismiss the case.
curtail Their efforts to curtail spending didn't quite succeed.
pare Pare and chop fine one quart of sweet apples.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
retrench		falling
dismiss		steady
curtail		falling
pare		falling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: cut¹, lop¹
4 letters: fire², clip¹, dock¹, sack¹, trim¹, pare¹
5 letters: prune¹, abate²
6 letters: remove², reduce², lessen²
7 letters: dismiss², discard², shorten², curtail², abridge²
8 letters: contract², decrease², diminish³, compress², condense², truncate²
9 letters: discharge², epitomize⁴, epitomise
10 letters: abbreviate⁴
11 letters: foreshorten

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (fire² = 2 syllables).