trounce
/tɹaʊns/
"trounce" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“trounce” is an uncommon English word, ranked #93,262 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #93,262
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To beat severely; to thrash.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | trounce |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /tɹaʊns/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #93,262 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “trounce” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for trounce is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tɹaʊns/. Corpus data places it at rank #93,262 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for trounce in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: The origin of the verb is unknown; it is perhaps related to Old French troncer, troncher, troncir, tronchir (“to cut; to cut a piece from; to retrench”), from Old French tronce, tronche (“stump; piece of wood”). However, the English and Old French words dif… The correct English form is trounce, spelled T-R-O-U-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1To beat severely; to thrash.
- 2To beat or overcome thoroughly, to defeat heavily; especially (games, sports) to win against (someone) by a wide margin.
- 3To chastise or punish physically or verbally; to scold with abusive language.
- 4To punish by bringing a lawsuit against; to sue.
Etymology
The origin of the verb is unknown; it is perhaps related to Old French troncer, troncher, troncir, tronchir (“to cut; to cut a piece from; to retrench”), from Old French tronce, tronche (“stump; piece of wood”). However, the English and Old French words differ in meaning. The noun is derived from the verb.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “trounce”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-R-O-U-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tɹaʊns/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.