BharatNotes Trenchant
adjectiveUsage in a UPSC answer
The Comptroller and Auditor General's report offered a trenchant critique of the scheme's implementation, exposing with surgical clarity how leakages in last-mile delivery had hollowed out an otherwise well-conceived welfare architecture.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
trenchantly (adv), trenchancy (n), trench (n, cognate), trenchantness (n)
Root
Old French trenchant = present participle of trenchier = to cut; Latin truncare = to lop, maim
Etymology
From Old French trenchant, present participle of trenchier "to cut" (whence also "trench"), ultimately from Latin truncare "to lop, maim".
Memory Hook
"Trenchant" hides "trench" — both come from the idea of cutting: a trench is cut into the earth, and a trenchant remark cuts into the listener. A trenchant critique digs a deep trench through a weak argument.
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