different between termination vs retrenchment

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin terminationem (accusative of terminatio).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /t?m??ne???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

termination (countable and uncountable, plural terminations)

1. The process of terminating or the state of being terminated.
2. The process of firing an employee; ending one's employment at a business for any reason.
3. An end in time; a conclusion.
4. An end in space; an edge or limit.
5. An outcome or result.
6. The last part of a word; an ending, a desinence; a suffix.
   • 1849, E. A. Andrews, A First Latin Book; Or Progressive Lessons in Reading and Writing Latin, 2nd edition, Boston, p. 52 and 69:

     1. Some adjectives of the third declension have three terminations in the nominative singular,—one for each gender; some two,—one for the masculine and feminine, the other for the neuter; and some, only one for all genders.

     1. Verbs whose terminations are alike, are said to be of the same conjugation.
     2. Latin verbs are divided into four conjugations.

7. (medicine) An induced abortion.
8. (obsolete, rare) A word, a term.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2 Scene 1

     She speaks poniards, and every word stabs: if her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her; she would infect to the north star.

9. The ending up of a polypeptid chain.

Synonyms

• (process of terminating): discontinuation, stoppage
• (state of being termined): discontinuation
• (process of firing an employee): discharge, dismissal
• (end in time): close, conclusion, end, finale, finish, stop
• (end in space): border, edge, end, limit, lip, rim, tip
• (outcome): consequence, outcome, result, upshot
• (last part of a word): ending
• (medical): abortion, induced abortion

Antonyms

• (process of terminating or the state of being terminated): continuation

Derived terms

• extermination
• terminative
• terminative case

Related terms

• terminate

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???t??n(t)?m(?)nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???t??n(t)?m(?)nt/, [?i-]
• Hyphenation: re?trench?ment

Etymology 1

Probably partly from both of the following:

• Middle French retrenchement, retranchement (“removal of a portion from a larger whole; reduction of expenses”) (modern French retranchement (“deduction, subtraction”)), from retrancher, retranchier (“to get rid of, remove completely; to remove a portion from a larger whole; to reduce expenses; to deprive (oneself) of”) [and other forms] + -ment (suffix forming nouns usually of an action or a state resulting from an action). Retrancher and retranchier are derived from Old French re- (prefix meaning ‘again, once more’) + tranchier, trenchier (“to cut”) [and other forms] (modern French trancher (“to slice”)); the further etymology is uncertain, but one possibility is that the Old French words are from Latin trunc?re, the present active infinitive of trunc? (“to mutilate by cutting off pieces; to truncate”), from truncus (“tree trunk; piece cut off”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *twer?- (“to carve; to cut off, trim”).
• retrench (“to cut down, reduce; to reduce expenses; to make (an employee) redundant”) +? -ment. Retrench is derived from Middle French retrancher, retranchier: see above.

Noun

retrenchment (countable and uncountable, plural retrenchments)

1. A curtailment or reduction.

   Synonyms: cutting down, diminution, lessening

   1. (specifically) An act of reducing expenses; economizing.

      Synonym: cutback
   2. (specifically) An act of terminating the employment of a worker or making an employee redundant, often to reduce expenses; a layoff.

Usage notes

Sense 1.2 (“act of terminating the employment of a worker”) is common in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa, but uncommon in Britain and the United States.

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably either from:

• Middle French retranchement (“defensive work”) (modern French retranchement (“entrenchment”)), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again, once more’) + tranche (“trench”) + -ment (suffix forming nouns usually of an action or a state resulting from an action); or
• retrench (“to construct one or more retrenchments; to protect using retrenchments; to fortify”) +? -ment. Retrench is probably derived from Middle French retrancher, retranchier (“to fortify with trenches and banks”), from Old French re- + tranchier, trenchier (“to cut”); see further at etymology 1.

Noun

retrenchment (plural retrenchments)

1. (military, dated) A defensive work constructed within a fortification to make it more defensible by allowing defenders to retreat into and fight from it even after the enemy has taken the outer work.

Translations

References

Further reading

• layoff on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• retrenchment on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• retrenchment (military) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• retrenchment (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia