小词详解 | entrench

entrench 英 [ɪnˈtrentʃ] 美 [ɪnˈtrentʃ]

外刊例句

• In most countries inflation is becoming less entrenched—as measured by “inflation breadth”, a measure that calculates the share of items in the consumer-price basket where prices are rising by more than 2% year on year.
  以“通胀广度”来衡量，在大多数国家，通胀正在变得不那么顽固。该指标计算了消费价格篮子中价格同比上涨超过2%的商品所占的份额。
  ——《经济学人》
• Modi was using his outsize control over the distribution of revenues collected across India to entrench his party and hobble their own state governments.
  莫迪利用其对印度全国税收分配的巨大控制权来巩固其政党的地位并阻碍各邦政府的运作。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[verb] establish (an attitude, habit, or belief) so firmly that change is very difficult or unlikely
[动词] 牢固树立（某种态度、习惯或信念），以至于非常难以或不可能改变

深入解读

从词源上来看， entrench 一词由前缀 en- （使成某种状态、致使……、使之如……、作成……）+单词 trench （沟渠、战壕）构成而来，也拼作 intrench ，最早出现于16世纪50年代，用来表示“挖掘壕沟”以及“用壕沟围住、用壕沟防护、置……于壕沟中”。比如：

• 不共戴天的敌人固守在河对岸的壕沟里。
  The implacable enemy were strongly entrenched on the other side of the river.

从在战壕等防御阵地中牢固建立军事力量的概念出发，等到了16世纪90年代后， entrench 开始用来喻指“牢固确立、使处于牢固地位、使根深蒂固”，常用被动语态并有时作贬义词使用，主要指牢固树立某种态度、习惯、习俗、权力、权利、信念等，以至于非常难以或不可能改变。比如：

• 性别歧视在我们这个社会根深蒂固。
  Sexism is deeply entrenched in our society.
• 他的忠实支持者都盘踞在强有力的关键性职位上。
  His staunch supporters were all entrenched in powerful and key positions.
• 临时联合政府的主要任务是防止通货膨胀问题积重难返。
  The provisional coalition government's main task was to prevent inflation from entrenching itself.

权威用例

我们向深度贫困堡垒发起总攻，啃下了最难啃的“硬骨头”。历经8年，现行标准下近1亿农村贫困人口全部脱贫，832个贫困县全部摘帽。
We launched the final assault on the fortress of entrenched rural poverty, and cracked this "hardest nut". Through 8 years, under the current standard, China has eradicated extreme poverty for the nearly 100 million rural people affected, and all the 832 impoverished counties have shaken off poverty.

出自习主席2021年新年贺词。

同近义词

• establish: set up on a firm or permanent basis
• root: establish deeply and firmly
• embed: fix (an object) firmly and deeply in a surrounding mass