💸 Spending cuts 🛡️ Extra defense

retrenchment

9.9

An extra wall inside a fort to help defenders if outer walls fail

noun
/rɪˈtrɛnʧmənt/

Archaic

: reducimiento

Synonyms

fortification

vsretrenchment

Specialized

2 8.1

Designing and building military defenses to protect places from attack

is a specific interior defensive work, not the general art or practice

entrenchment

vsretrenchment

Specialized

1 8.6

A military position protected by trenches

is an inner fallback built to keep resisting after outer lines fall

revetment

vsretrenchment

Specialized

1 9.9

A wall of stone, concrete, or sandbags that protects a shore from waves and erosion

is an inner fighting work meant to delay attackers inside a larger defense

defensive structure

vsretrenchment

1 3.9

A building or wall built to protect a place from attack

is a smaller inner work used only when main defenses are breached

ouvrage

vsretrenchment

Specialized

9.9

A large fort built to defend a place

is a smaller inner work built inside larger defenses to delay attackers

intrenchment

vsretrenchment

Archaic

9.9

A defensive position where soldiers stand behind trenches during war

is specifically an interior backup built to prolong defense after breach

How Strong

citadel

51 7.7

redoubt

Specialized

4 9.9

retrenchment

Archaic

9.9

rampart

12 8.8

earthwork

3 6.0

barrier

163 2.8

Surface Forms

retrenchment singular

retrenchments plural

Morphology

retrenchment = retrench (opaque) = re + trench + ment

The meaning of 'retrenchment' as a fortification is not directly derivable from 'retrench' and the suffix 'ment' in this context.

Etymology

Retrenchment comes from re- meaning 'back' and trench meaning 'to cut', the same idea you see in the word trench. So a retrenchment is like a 'cut back' inside a fortress, an inner defence made when the outer walls fail.