attrition

plural attritions

1. countableuncountableGrinding down or wearing away by friction.

   Antonyms: accretion

   1. countableuncountabledentistryThe wearing of teeth due to their grinding.

      Antonyms: accretion

2. countableuncountableA gradual reduction in number.

   2 more examples

   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.

   1990 December 16, Tom Sparks, “Universal Suffrage”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 22, page 4

   But the rise of multiracialism is not all Kumbaya choruses and “postracial” identity. The N.A.A.C.P. criticized the census change, fearing that since so few in the black community are of fully African descent, mass attrition to a mixed-race option could threaten political clout and Federal financing.

   2008 March 23, Peggy Orenstein, “Mixed Messenger”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 06 Nov 2020

   Antonyms: accretion

   1. countableuncountablehuman resourcesA gradual, natural reduction in membership or personnel, as through injury, incapacitation, retirement, resignation, or death.

      Synonyms: natural wastage · Antonyms: accretion

   2. countableuncountablesciencesThe loss of participants during an experiment.

      Antonyms: accretion

   3. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe loss of a first or second language or a portion of that language.

      Antonyms: accretion

3. countableuncountablelifestyleImperfect contrition or remorse.

present singular third person attritions · participle present attritioning · participle past attritioned · past attritioned

1. transitiveTo grind or wear down through friction.

   attritioned teeth; attritioned rock

   1 more example

   […] He took her in his arms And kissed her long and wetly, Till, attritioned by her charms, His will collapsed completely.

   1989, Shashi Tharoor, The Great Indian Novel, New York: Arcade, Book 9, p. 189

   Synonyms: attrit

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

   […] expenses can be cut, by attritioning faculty vacancies […]

   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

   1 more example

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

   1973, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education, Hearings, page 186

3. intransitiveTo undergo a reduction in number.

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