How to Use trenchant in a Sentence

trenchant

adjective
  • The line is more trenchant than its writers could have known.
    — Derek Robertson, The Washington Examiner, 8 Aug. 2025
  • The great man deserves something far more pithy and trenchant.
    — David Benedict, Variety, 13 Dec. 2022
  • These best-selling books display the trenchant wit of a flaneur strolling through Babylon.
    — Brenda Wineapple, The New York Review of Books, 19 Oct. 2022
  • His readers valued him for his knowledge, his passion, and his trenchant opinions.
    — The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2022
  • Some analysts believe the scammers may have gone after her because of her trenchant views.
    — New York Times, 16 Dec. 2021
  • Also, a lot of these ideas just sound ridiculous, and so there hasn’t been as much trenchant criticism as there should have been for the past decades.
    — Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 14 July 2025
  • Reiner never stopped coming up with a good line, something to say — funny or melancholy or trenchant.
    — Hank Stuever, Washington Post, 30 June 2020
  • Carpenter has built a career as a trenchant singer-songwriter.
    — Chrissie Dickinson, chicagotribune.com, 8 June 2017
  • Warnock’s speech warmed up the faithful with laughs, often followed up later by trenchant criticism.
    — Christina Tkacik, baltimoresun.com, 13 Apr. 2018
  • On rewatch, months into a pandemic, Palm Springs is even more trenchant.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 10 July 2020
  • No point during the Christmas season to be cynical, trenchant, and wry.
    — Brian T. Allen, National Review, 30 Dec. 2021
  • More so than its source material, the new series is a monster mystery mixed with a trenchant social thriller.
    — Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 6 July 2026
  • The Wolf of Wall Street just might be the most trenchant film made about America’s last decade.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 31 Dec. 2019
  • But Letter puts a trenchant spin on it, finding not sorrow but pure yearning in the grooves of this decision.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 22 Feb. 2021
  • Burnham was one of the earliest YouTube stars and later a trenchant critic of such fame.
    — Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 13 May 2024
  • This is a book that’s trenchant and intelligent; wry but not glib; humane but never indulgent.
    — New York Times, 5 Dec. 2019
  • Janion’s analyses are trenchant but also hopeful.
    — Literary Hub, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Archie’s aunt, a literature professor, tells him in one of the novel’s most trenchant passages.
    — David L. Ulin, Twin Cities, 8 Feb. 2017
  • Still, how else to interpret the most trenchant passages in the novella, which reflect on mortality and time?
    — David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2021
  • With its basic depictions of love, monogamy, and betrayal as trenchant as ever, who wouldn’t want to revisit it?
    — Marley Marius, Vogue, 10 Sep. 2021
  • Installing them near the works of Tomah, Bridges, and Cayard brings their trenchant message home.
    — Cate McQuaid, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Apr. 2018
  • In real life Ms Barr is a woman of trenchant but hard-to-define political views.
    — The Economist, 5 Apr. 2018
  • This should give her freedom to pursue the gamble of appointing herself as the face of the city’s most trenchant and explosive problem.
    — Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2022
  • Both the author and the narrator succeed notably in this funny, trenchant debut novel.
    — Audiofile Magazine august 29, Literary Hub, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Through Shirley’s eyes, Perry reframes the collection, weaving a tale that is both tender and trenchant.
    — Lee Sharrock, Forbes.com, 13 May 2025
  • If philosophy begins in wonder, trenchant social drama seems to start in laughter.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2026
  • Always, the references were germane to our conversation or a trenchant comment on the most pressing issues and crises of our time.
    — Nr Symposium, National Review, 6 Dec. 2020
  • Maz Jobrani and Nasim Pedrad chose trenchant comedy as their most potent artistic weapon.
    — Dan Bilefsky, HollywoodReporter, 25 July 2025
  • Despite Lavrov's trenchant remarks, there may be subtle hints that Putin is ready to do a deal — and that's without knowing what has gone on behind closed doors.
    — Alexander Smith, NBC news, 25 Aug. 2025
  • The clashes at the core of the superb screenplay, by the helmer and Doruntina Basha, receive trenchant reinforcement in the score.
    — Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 30 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trenchant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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