trench warfare
1
6.4
- noun
- /trɛnʧ ˈwɔrˌfɛr/
:
guerra de trincheras
- Because for a long time there's been a not, not quite a truce, but a sort of like a trench warfare, you know, you don't go across the lines.
- decade of trench warfare
Because for a long time there's been a not, not quite a truce, but a sort of like a trench warfare, you know, you don't go across the lines.
- Because for a long time there's been a not, not quite a truce, but a sort of like a trench warfare, you know, you don't go across the lines.
Examples
-
It's either all-out trench warfare or loserville.
Blog text (8) -
In the world of competitive marketing, brands often engage in trench warfare, fiercely contesting each other's strategies without yielding ground.
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Meanwhile, the fight for public opinion long ago took on the look of trench warfare.
Blog text (11) -
While the federal government was locked in a decade of trench warfare, reform currents flowed through city halls.
Academic text (2002) -
It was almost like a trench warfare scenario where they had this trench thing, there were foreign fighters and they had this trench system that we had.
-
The negotiations between the two companies have become a battle of trench warfare, with neither side willing to make concessions.
-
Political analysts describe the ongoing debates in Congress as trench warfare, where neither party is making significant progress on key issues.
Antonyms
How Deadlocked
42
6.3
1
6.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound literally combines 'trench' (a defensive ditch) and 'warfare' (fighting), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to fighting conducted from trenches. However, the frequent figurative meaning — a prolonged, deadlocked struggle — depends on historical/cultural knowledge about the immobility of trench fighting and is not fully predictable for a B1 learner, so the transparency is partial.
Etymology
Trench warfare is also used as a picture for any fight where both sides are stuck in place. Imagine two groups dug into trenches and refusing to move; that image explains why people use it to mean 'a long, stuck fight' with little progress.