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Antonyms for attrition

Grammar : Noun
Spell : uh-trish-uh n
Phonetic Transcription : əˈtrɪʃ ən

Definition of attrition

Origin :
  • 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.
  • noun wearing down or away
  • noun regret
Example sentences :
  • They have not the attrition which wears away the angularities.
  • Extract from : « Ireland as It Is » by Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
  • Nothing has done us more harm than all this talk about "attrition."
  • Extract from : « War Letters of a Public-School Boy » by Paul Jones.
  • The difficulty was to overcome its susceptibility to attrition.
  • Extract from : « Mizora: A Prophecy » by Mary E. Bradley
  • I say that attrition with confession is necessary: he believes that contrition is necessary.
  • Extract from : « Pascal » by John Tulloch
  • In what was to a great extent a war of attrition this was a point of some importance.
  • Extract from : « Experiences of a Dug-out, 1914-1918 » by Sir Stanley Maude
  • But attrition of men is only half; there is the question of food and of money.
  • Extract from : « The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8) » by Various
  • The rocks are smoothed with the attrition of the alchemy of years.
  • Extract from : « Australia Twice Traversed, The Romance of Exploration » by Ernest Giles
  • Attrition and Contrition, as defined at the Council of Trent, 584.
  • Extract from : « A History of the Reformation (Vol. 2 of 2) » by Thomas M. Lindsay
  • The process of attrition was going forward slowly and surely.
  • Extract from : « South Africa and the Transvaal War, vol. 7 » by Louis Creswicke
  • As they had least to win so they have most to lose in a war of taxation and attrition.
  • Extract from : « The Secrets of a Kuttite » by Edward O. Mousley

Synonyms for attrition

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019