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I'm not sure what "trenchantly" means in this sentence:

While the rest of the firm gradually acquired a new persona, mortgages remained more trenchantly the same.

Here is the definition I found of trenchant:

  1. vigorous or incisive in expression or style. "she heard angry voices, not loud, yet certainly trenchant"
  2. archaicliterary (of a weapon or tool) having a sharp edge.

Thanks for the help!

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Although one of the meanings of trenchantly is "vigorously, energetically," which by some stretch might fit the context, I suspect the author thought that trenchant had a lot more to do with a word with a similar root: entrenched. Beyond this etymological connection, however, the two words have nothing to do with one another.

Trenchant ultimately derives from Old French trenchant, present participle of trenchier, to cut. Today, if someone is Paris wants to slice up a chicken or roast, they use the verb trancher. Thus the metaphoric cutting and incisive character of trenchant.

Entrench, though from the same root, didn't follow the same route into the language. It is a native English word derived from trench, i.e., something dug (cut) into the ground, especially for defensive purposes. An entrenched position is defensive and unmoving, "dug in" for battle.

Thus while other departments gradually changed, mortgages didn't move at all, but maintained an entrenched position, remaining the same.

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  • @KarlG So if the author used the word "trenchantly" to mean more like "entrenched", doesn't "trenchantly" and "the same" sound redundant?
    – rds80
    Commented Feb 13, 2018 at 17:14
  • No, it just means he used the wrong word. Entrenched and status quo go together quite well.
    – KarlG
    Commented Feb 13, 2018 at 17:18

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