entrenching
Establishing firm positions
Entrenching is the act of establishing something so firmly that it becomes difficult to change or remove.
Military forces entrench by digging defensive positions: The soldiers spent the night entrenching along the ridge.
More often the word appears figuratively: Years of subsidies succeeded in entrenching the industry's dependence on government support.
Power structures, habits, and inequalities all entrench over time.
Tool for moving earth
- spadeFlat-bladed digging implement
- excavationAct of unearthing
- ditchShallow excavated channel
- earthworkConstructed soil structure
foxhole · burrow · pit · tunneling · sapping · revetment · gabion · groundwork
Making more robust
- strengtheningIncreasing power or solidity
- bolsteringStrengthening or supporting
- consolidatingCombining dispersed elements
- buttressingSupporting from the side
cementing · hardening · shoring · bracing · armoring · securing · establishing · anchoring
Incapable of being shifted
- steadfastFirmly loyal, unshakeable
- unyieldingRefusing to give way
- resoluteFixed in purpose
- firmSolid or resolute
intractable · inflexible · stubborn · hardline · uncompromising · defensive · resistant · fixed
Elongated ground excavations
- foxholesMilitary defensive excavations
- bunkersFortified underground chambers
- fortificationsDefensive barriers against attack
- earthworksConstructed soil fortifications
parapets · redoubts · siege · sappers · infantry · garrison · artillery · combat
Creating or setting up
- embeddingPlacing within surrounding mass
- rootingActively cheering someone on
- perpetuatingCausing to persist indefinitely
- institutionalizingEstablishing as formal practice
normalizing · codifying · systematizing · bureaucracy · hierarchy · tradition · precedent · convention
shovel
Tool for moving earth
- spadeFlat-bladed digging implement
- excavationAct of unearthing
- ditchShallow excavated channel
earthwork · foxhole · burrow · pit · tunneling · sapping · revetment · gabion · groundwork · embankment
reinforcing
Making more robust
- strengtheningIncreasing power or solidity
- bolsteringStrengthening or supporting
- consolidatingCombining dispersed elements
buttressing · cementing · hardening · shoring · bracing · armoring · securing · establishing · anchoring · embedding
immovable
Incapable of being shifted
- steadfastFirmly loyal, unshakeable
- unyieldingRefusing to give way
- resoluteFixed in purpose
firm · intractable · inflexible · stubborn · hardline · uncompromising · defensive · resistant · fixed · anchored
trenches
Elongated ground excavations
- foxholesMilitary defensive excavations
- bunkersFortified underground chambers
- fortificationsDefensive barriers against attack
earthworks · parapets · redoubts · siege · sappers · infantry · garrison · artillery · combat · warfare
establishing
Creating or setting up
- embeddingPlacing within surrounding mass
- rootingActively cheering someone on
- perpetuatingCausing to persist indefinitely
institutionalizing · normalizing · codifying · systematizing · bureaucracy · hierarchy · tradition · precedent · convention · orthodoxy
- establishing positiondigging in, anchoring, fortifying, marking territory, holding ground
- formalizingformalizing, institutionalizing, officializing, establishing, codifying
- Boer historyBoers, Afrikaners, Transvaal, Anglo-Boer War, Kruger
entrenchinguprooting
Extracting from the earth
dislodging · removing · displacing · expelling · extracting
entrenchingshifting
Changing position or form
loosening · destabilizing · unfixing · mobilizing · freeing
trench, entrenched, retrench, entrench, retrenchment, entrenchment, trenched, entrenches, trencher