1. Any long ditch cut in the ground
   "Workers dug a trench to lay the new water main"
    
2. A ditch dug as a fortification having a parapet of the excavated earth
   "Soldiers took cover in the trench as artillery fire rained down"
    
3. A long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor
   "The Mariana Trench is the deepest known oceanic abyss";
   - deep, oceanic abyss

1. Fortify by surrounding with trenches
   "He trenched his military camp"
    
2. Cut or carve deeply into
   "letters trenched into the stone"
    
3. Set, plant, or bury in a trench
   "trench the fallen soldiers"; "trench the vegetables"
    
4. Cut a trench in, as for drainage
   "trench the fields";
   - ditch
    
5. Dig a trench or trenches
   "The National Guardsmen were sent out to trench"
    
6. [archaic] Have a negative effect on, esp. by somehow restricting; infringe upon
   "This trenches on my rights as an individual";
   - impinge, encroach, entrench

Derived forms: trenching, trenches, trenched

Type of: cut, depression, dig, dig out, ditch, excavate, fort, fortify, hollow, lay, natural depression, place, pose, position, put, set, take advantage, trespass

Part of: entrenchment, intrenchment

Encyclopedia: Trench, Joseph