attrition
pronunciation
How to pronounce attrition in British English:
UK [əˈtrɪʃn]
How to pronounce attrition in American English:
US [əˈtrɪʃn]
-
- Noun:
- erosion by friction
- the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water or wind or ice
- sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation
- a wearing down to weaken or destroy
- the act of rubbing together; wearing something down by friction
Word Origin
- attrition
- attrition: see throw
- attrition (n.)
- 1540s, "abrasion, a scraping," from Latin attritionem (nominative attritio), literally "a rubbing against," noun of action from past participle stem of atterere "to wear, rub away," figuratively "to destroy, waste," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + terere "to rub" (see throw (v.)). The earliest sense in English is from Scholastic theology (late 14c.), "sorrow for sin merely out of fear of punishment," a minor irritation, and thus less than contrition. The sense of "wearing down of military strength" is a World War I coinage (1914). Figurative use by 1930.
Example
- 1. Now , qaddafi can play a game of attrition .
- 2. The rate of attrition among new york judges has spiked .
- 3. Peasants were the pawns in this war of attrition .
- 4. Less hubristic and more informed leaders would have realised that both countries had the manpower and industrial resources to prevail in a war of attrition .
- 5. They provided the main pipeline into iraq for sunni jihadists to wage attrition against us occupying forces and to slaughter shia civilians .