attrition

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English

Etymology

15th century, learned borrowing from Latin attritio (“a rubbing against”), from the verb attritus, past participle of atterere (“to wear”), from ad- (“to, towards”) +‎ terere (“to rub”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /əˈtɹɪʃən/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪʃən

Noun

attrition (countable and uncountable, plural attritions)

  1. Grinding down or wearing away by friction.
  2. The gradual reduction in a tangible or intangible resource due to causes that are passive and do not involve productive use of the resource.
  3. (human resources) A gradual, natural reduction in membership or personnel, as through injury, incapacitation, retirement, resignation, or death.
  4. (sciences) The loss of participants during an experiment.
  5. (theology) Imperfect contrition or remorse.
  6. (dentistry) The wearing of teeth due to their grinding.
  7. (linguistics) The loss of a first or second language or a portion of that language.

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Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

attrition (third-person singular simple present attritions, present participle attritioning, simple past and past participle attritioned)

  1. (transitive) To grind or wear down through friction.
    Synonym: attrit
    attritioned teeth; attritioned rock
    • 1989, Shashi Tharoor, The Great Indian Novel‎, New York: Arcade, Book 9, p. 189:
      […] He took her in his arms
      And kissed her long and wetly,
      Till, attritioned by her charms,
      His will collapsed completely.
  2. (transitive) To reduce the number of (jobs or workers) by not hiring new employees to fill positions that become vacant (often with out).
    • 1973, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education, Hearings, page 186:
      […] but the heart of the health services in New York will have to attrition out some 3,000 to 5,000 jobs.
    • 1989, Herbert S. White, “The Future of Library and Information Science Education”, in Librarians and the Awakening from Innocence,‎, Boston: G.K. Hall, page 86:
      […] expenses can be cut, by attritioning faculty vacancies […]
  3. (intransitive) To undergo a reduction in number.
    The cohort of one hundred students had attritioned to sixty by the end of secondary school.

Translations

References

  1. ^ Clarence Barnhart et al., The Second Barnhart Dictionary of New English, Bronxville, NY: Barnhart Books.

Anagrams

French

Etymology

From Latin attrītiōnem.

Pronunciation

Noun

attrition f (plural attritions)

  1. attrition

Derived terms

Further reading

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