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trenches

noun · verb

Form of trench , plural of trench.

Simple meaning

Any long ditch cut in the ground.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

trehnchiz

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtɹɛntʃɪz

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. plural of trench

    Any long ditch cut in the ground

  2. plural of trench

    A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground.

  3. plural of trench

    A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.

  4. plural of trench

    A trench coat.

verb

  1. third-person singular of trenchmilitaryinfantry

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

  2. third-person singular of trench

    To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next.

  3. third-person singular of trench

    Cut a trench in, as for drainage

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Any long ditch cut in the ground

Used this way, trenches is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Long

slit trenches

Excavate

line trenches

Dig

digging trenches

Other combinations

deep trenchescommunication trenchesdig trenchesenemy trenchesdug trenches

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • trenchnounBase word

    A ditch dug as a fortification having a parapet of the excavated earth.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • trenching spadenounRelated term

    A hand shovel carried by infantrymen for digging trenches.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.