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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

attrition.

Grinding down or wearing away by friction.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/əˈtɹɪʃən/General-American/əˈtɹɪʃn̩/Received-Pronunciation

  1. Grinding down or wearing away by friction.

    countable · uncountable

  2. Grinding down or wearing away by friction. The wearing of teeth due to their grinding.

    countable · uncountable

  3. A gradual reduction in number.

    countable · uncountable

  4. A gradual reduction in number. A gradual, natural reduction in membership or personnel, as through injury, incapacitation, retirement, resignation, or death.

    countable · uncountable

  5. A gradual reduction in number. The loss of participants during an experiment.

    countable · uncountable

  6. A gradual reduction in number. The loss of a first or second language or a portion of that language.

    countable · uncountable

  7. Imperfect contrition or remorse.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

First attested in the 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.

verb/əˈtɹɪʃən/General-American/əˈtɹɪʃn̩/Received-Pronunciation

  1. To grind or wear down through friction.

    transitive
    attritioned teeth; attritioned rock

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

    transitive

  3. To undergo a reduction in number.

    intransitive
    The cohort of one hundred students had attritioned to sixty by the end of secondary school.
Where this word comes from

First attested in the 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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.