attrition

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a wearing down to weaken or destroy

   a war of attrition

2. 2
   noun

   A gradual reduction in number.

   Recent years have seen […] more and more blatant reversals of previous Supreme Court decisions in favor of the constitutional rights of minorities. These increasingly conservative decisions, and constant attrition of individuals' rights, have directly paralleled the alarming increase of convictions in our courts.

3. 3
   verb

   To grind or wear down through friction.

   attritioned teeth; attritioned rock

4. 4
   verb

   To reduce the number of (jobs or workers) by not hiring new employees to fill positions that become vacant (often with out).

   […] but the heart of the health services in New York will have to attrition out some 3,000 to 5,000 jobs.

5. 5
   verb

   To undergo a reduction in number.

   The cohort of one hundred students had attritioned to sixty by the end of secondary school.

6. 6
   noun

   the act of rubbing together

7. 7
   noun

   sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation

8. 8
   noun

   the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water or wind or ice

Etymology

15th century, from Middle English attricion, attricioun, from Middle French attricion, attrition and its etymon, Latin attrītiō (“a rubbing against”), from the verb attrītus, past participle of atterō (“to wear”), from ad- (“to, towards”) + terō (“to rub”). By surface analysis, attrit + -ion.