trenchant

• trenchaunt (obsolete)

From Old French, from the present participle of trenchier (“to cut”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛnʃənt/

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trenchant (comparative more trenchant, superlative most trenchant)

1. (obsolete) Fitted to trench or cut; gutting; sharp.
   • 1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 1:

     The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty, / For want of fighting was grown rusty, / And ate into itself, for lack / Of somebody to hew and hack.

2. (figuratively) Keen; biting; vigorously effective and articulate; severe.

   trenchant wit

   • 1902, Joseph Conrad, chapter I, in Heart of Darkness:

     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.

   • 2011, Jay A. Gertzman, Bookleggers and Smuthounds: The Trade in Erotica, 1920-1940

     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.

Old French trenchant.

trenchant m or f (plural trenchans)

1. sharp

• French: tranchant

trenchant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular trenchant or trenchante)

1. sharp; razor sharp

trenchant

1. present participle of trenchier