attrition — [n1] wearing down or away abrasion, attenuation, debilitation, depreciation, disintegration, erosion, grinding, rubbing, thinning, weakening, wear; concepts 469,776 Ant. building, strengthening attrition [n2] regret contriteness, penance,… … New thesaurus
attrition — [ə trish′ən] n. [ME attricioun < L attritio < attritus, pp. of atterere, to wear, rub away < ad , to + terere, to rub: see THROW] 1. the act or process of wearing away or grinding down by friction 2. any gradual wearing or weakening, esp … English World dictionary
grinding — noun 1. material resulting from the process of grinding (Freq. 1) vegetable grindings clogged the drain • Derivationally related forms: ↑grind • Hypernyms: ↑atom, ↑molecule, ↑particle, ↑corpuscle … Useful english dictionary
attrition — noun Etymology: Latin attrition , attritio, from atterere to rub against, from ad + terere to rub more at throw Date: 14th century 1. [Middle English attricioun, from Medieval Latin attrition , attritio, from Latin] sorrow for one s sins that… … New Collegiate Dictionary
attrition — 1. Wearing away by friction or rubbing. 2. In dentistry, physiological loss of tooth structure caused by the abrasive character of food or from bruxism. Cf.:abrasion. [L. at tero, pp. tritus, to rub against, rub away] * * * at·tri·tion ə trish ən … Medical dictionary
attrition — noun 1) the battle would result in further attrition of their already lame naval force Syn: wearing down, wearing away, weakening, debilitation, enfeebling, sapping, attenuation; gradual loss 2) the skull shows attrition of the teeth Syn:… … Thesaurus of popular words
attrition — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. abrasion (See deterioration, friction). II (Roget s IV) n. Syn. wearing down, wearing away, friction, rubbing, abrasion, weakening, grinding down, erosion, depreciation, gradual disintegration,… … English dictionary for students
attrition — n. [L. ad, toward; tritus, rub] A rubbing out or grinding down by friction … Dictionary of invertebrate zoology
attrition — noun a) wearing or grinding down by friction b) the gradual reduction in a tangible or intangible resource due to causes that are passive and do not involve productive use of the resource. Ant: accretion … Wiktionary
attrition — Synonyms and related words: abatement, ablation, abrasion, abrasive, absorption, apologies, assimilation, atomization, attenuation, ayenbite of inwit, beating, bitterness, blunting, brecciation, buffing, burning up, burnishing, chafe, chafing,… … Moby Thesaurus
grinding — Synonyms and related words: ablation, ablative, abradant, abrasion, abrasive, absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, application, arbitrary, aristocratic, arrogant, atomization, attrition, attritive, authoritarian, authoritative, autocratic, beating … Moby Thesaurus