attrition
English
editEtymology
edit15th 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”).[1][2] By surface analysis, attrit + -ion.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /əˈtɹɪʃən/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪʃən
Noun
editattrition (countable and uncountable, plural attritions)
- Grinding down or wearing away by friction.
- The gradual reduction in a tangible or intangible resource due to causes that are passive and do not involve productive use of the resource.
- (human resources) A gradual, natural reduction in membership or personnel, as through injury, incapacitation, retirement, resignation, or death.
- (sciences) The loss of participants during an experiment.
- (theology) Imperfect contrition or remorse.
- (dentistry) The wearing of teeth due to their grinding.
- (linguistics) The loss of a first or second language or a portion of that language.
Synonyms
edit- (employment reduction by natural causes): natural wastage
Antonyms
editDerived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editwearing by friction
|
gradual reduction in a tangible or intangible resource
|
reduction in membership or personnel
|
loss of participants during an experiment
theology: imperfect contrition or remorse
wearing of teeth
|
loss of a first or second language or a portion of that language
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
Verb
editattrition (third-person singular simple present attritions, present participle attritioning, simple past and past participle attritioned)
- (transitive) To grind or wear down through friction.
- Synonym: attrit
- attritioned teeth; attritioned rock
- 1989, Shashi Tharoor, The Great Indian Novel[2], 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.
- (transitive) To reduce the number of (jobs or workers) by not hiring new employees to fill positions that become vacant (often with out).[3]
- 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,[3], Boston: G.K. Hall, page 86:
- […] expenses can be cut, by attritioning faculty vacancies […]
- (intransitive) To undergo a reduction in number.
- The cohort of one hundred students had attritioned to sixty by the end of secondary school.
Translations
editto reduce jobs or workers by not hiring
|
References
edit- ^ “attriciǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “attrition, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- ^ Clarence Barnhart et al., The Second Barnhart Dictionary of New English, Bronxville, NY: Barnhart Books.[1]
Anagrams
editFrench
editEtymology
editFrom Latin attrītiōnem.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editattrition f (plural attritions)
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- “attrition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *terh₁-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms suffixed with -ion
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪʃən
- Rhymes:English/ɪʃən/3 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Human resources
- en:Sciences
- en:Theology
- en:Dentistry
- en:Linguistics
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with collocations
- English terms with quotations
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 3-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns