attrition

English

Etymology

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

Noun

attrition (countable and uncountable; plural attritions)

1. wearing or grinding down 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 retirement, resignation, or death
4. (sciences) The loss of participants during an experiment
5. (theology) Imperfect contrition or remorse

Translations

wearing by friction

Bulgarian: изтъркване (bg), изтриване (bg) Finnish: kuluminen (fi), hiertyminen (fi) French: usure (fr) f. Dutch: slijtage (nl)

Japanese: 磨耗 (ja) (mamō) Russian: истирание (ru) n. Spanish: atrición (es) f.

reduction in membership

French: départs volontaires (m) Dutch: vrijwillig ontslag (nl)

Japanese: 消耗 (shōmō)

policy of decruitment

Dutch: afvloeiingspolitiek (nl) French: départs volontaires (m)

Antonyms

• accretion

Derived terms

• attrit
• attritional
• attritionary
• attritive
• attrition damage

Related terms

• contrition

Anagrams

• titration