diff --git a/lttoolbox/lt-trim.1 b/lttoolbox/lt-trim.1
index 307c58a1..e0e5fc48 100644
--- a/lttoolbox/lt-trim.1
+++ b/lttoolbox/lt-trim.1
@@ -85,6 +85,24 @@ You should not trim a generator unless you have a
 .Em very
 simple translator pipeline,
 since the output of bidix seldom goes unchanged through transfer.
+.Sh OPTIONS
+.Bl -tag -width Ds
+.It Fl s , Fl Fl match-section
+A section with this name (id@type) in the analyser will only be
+trimmed against a section with the same id in the bidix. (The default
+is to trim all sections of the analyser against all sections of the
+bidix.) Using this option can some times speed up trimming
+considerably. For example, if you have some complicated regular
+expressions, try putting them in a
+
+  <section id="regex" type="standard">
+
+in both .dix files and passing
+.Dq regex@standard
+to \fI--match-section\fP.
+.Pp
+This argument may be used multiple times to specify multiple sections
+that must match by name.
 .Sh FILES
 .Bl -tag -width Ds
 .It Ar analyser_binary
diff --git a/lttoolbox/lt_trim.cc b/lttoolbox/lt_trim.cc
index da61ff15..3b1ecf9b 100644
--- a/lttoolbox/lt_trim.cc
+++ b/lttoolbox/lt_trim.cc
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 #include <iostream>
 
 void
-trim(FILE* file_mono, FILE* file_bi, FILE* file_out)
+trim(FILE* file_mono, FILE* file_bi, FILE* file_out, std::set<UString> match_sections)
 {
   Alphabet alph_mono;
   std::set<UChar32> letters_mono;
@@ -41,30 +41,43 @@ trim(FILE* file_mono, FILE* file_bi, FILE* file_out)
   std::set<int> loopback_symbols;    // ints refer to alph_prefix
   alph_prefix.createLoopbackSymbols(loopback_symbols, alph_mono, Alphabet::right);
 
+  UString union_name = u""; // Not a valid section name, used as key for those where we don't care about names matching
+  std::map<UString, Transducer> moved_bi_transducers;
   for (auto& it : trans_bi) {
-    if (union_transducer.isEmpty()) {
-      union_transducer = it.second;
-    } else {
-      union_transducer.unionWith(alph_bi, it.second);
+    if(match_sections.contains(it.first)) {
+      moved_bi_transducers[it.first] = it.second.appendDotStar(loopback_symbols).moveLemqsLast(alph_prefix);
+    }
+    else {
+      if (union_transducer.isEmpty()) {
+        union_transducer = it.second;
+      }
+      else {
+        union_transducer.unionWith(alph_bi, it.second);
+      }
     }
   }
   union_transducer.minimize();
 
-  Transducer prefix_transducer = union_transducer.appendDotStar(loopback_symbols);
-  // prefix_transducer should _not_ be minimized (both useless and takes forever)
-  Transducer moved_transducer = prefix_transducer.moveLemqsLast(alph_prefix);
+  // prefix/moved transducer should _not_ be minimized (both useless and takes forever)
+  moved_bi_transducers[union_name] = union_transducer.appendDotStar(loopback_symbols).moveLemqsLast(alph_prefix);
 
   std::map<UString, Transducer> trans_trim;
+  std::set<UString> sections_unmatched = match_sections; // just used to warn if user asked for a match that never happened
 
   for (auto& it : trans_mono) {
     if (it.second.numberOfTransitions() == 0) {
       std::cerr << "Warning: section " << it.first << " is empty! Skipping it..." << std::endl;
       continue;
     }
-    // TODO: parallelise this loop (as in lt_compose.cc)
+    if (moved_bi_transducers.contains(it.first)) {
+      sections_unmatched.erase(it.first);
+    }
+    Transducer& moved_transducer = moved_bi_transducers.contains(it.first)
+                                 ? moved_bi_transducers[it.first]
+                                 : moved_bi_transducers[union_name];
     Transducer trimmed = it.second.trim(moved_transducer,
-                                             alph_mono,
-                                             alph_prefix);
+                                        alph_mono,
+                                        alph_prefix);
     if (trimmed.hasNoFinals()) {
       std::cerr << "Warning: section " << it.first << " had no final state after trimming! Skipping it..." << std::endl;
       continue;
@@ -72,6 +85,9 @@ trim(FILE* file_mono, FILE* file_bi, FILE* file_out)
     trimmed.minimize();
     trans_trim[it.first] = trimmed;
   }
+  for (const auto &name : sections_unmatched) {
+    std::cerr << "Warning: section " << name << " was not found in both transducers! Skipping if in just one..." << std::endl;
+  }
 
   if (trans_trim.empty()) {
     std::cerr << "Error: Trimming gave empty transducer!" << std::endl;
@@ -91,13 +107,21 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
   cli.add_file_arg("analyser_bin_file", false);
   cli.add_file_arg("bidix_bin_file");
   cli.add_file_arg("trimmed_bin_file");
+  cli.add_str_arg('s', "match-section", "A section with this name (id@type) will only be trimmed against a section with the same name. This argument may be used multiple times.", "section_name");
   cli.parse_args(argc, argv);
 
+  auto strs = cli.get_strs();
+  std::set<UString> match_sections;
+  if (strs.find("match-section") != strs.end()) {
+    for (auto &it : strs["match-section"]) {
+      match_sections.insert(to_ustring(it.c_str()));
+    }
+  }
   FILE* analyser = openInBinFile(cli.get_files()[0]);
   FILE* bidix = openInBinFile(cli.get_files()[1]);
   FILE* output = openOutBinFile(cli.get_files()[2]);
 
-  trim(analyser, bidix, output);
+  trim(analyser, bidix, output, match_sections);
 
   fclose(analyser);
   fclose(bidix);