attritionn.
/əˈtrɪʃn/, U.S. /əˈtrɪʃən/ 1. Theology. Repentance or sorrow for sin, falling short of contrition in being inspired by a worldly motive, such as fear of punishment, rather than proceeding from the love of God.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > sin > contrition > [noun] > imperfect
attritiona1400
a1400 Clensyng Mannes Sowle in Eng. Misc. presented to Dr. Furnivall (1901) 259 (MED) The sixte is of contricioun, whiche is contricioun and which is attricioun..the sorow in contricioun schal be scharp, scharper & moost scharpe.
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) i. l. 557 [Thou] waylest for þi synne and þyn offence And hast for ferd caught attricioun.
1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) iv. iii. sig. r.iii v Attrycyon..is a maner of contrycyon unparfyte.
a1555 J. Bradford Two Notable Serm. (1574) sig. Bviijv This word iust & ful [sc. sorrow], is one of the differences betwene contrition and attrition.
a1600 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie vi, in Wks. (1666) 368 What was the Penitency of Saul and Iudas, but plain Attrition; horrour of Sinne through fear of punishment, without any long sense, or taste of God's Mercy?
1654 H. Hammond Of Fund. in Notion xviii. 208 To advance so farre as attrition and contrition.
a1688 W. Clagett Seventeen Serm. (1699) 10 Confession to a priest, with attrition, being reckoned sufficient to receive a pretorial absolution, which shall be valid in heaven.
1738 Hist. Jesus Christ ii. v. 263/2 Leave him to God's Inspection, who can..discern what it was in itself, Attrition or Contrition, sincere or not sincere, whether it would have continued or no.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. i. 169 Three stages in the passage from vice to virtue: Attrition, Contrition, and Repentance. The first is a sorrow for the mischiefs men have brought upon their own heads by their ill doings.
1836 J. R. Page Ireland ii. 33 Attrition..is equal to..contrition, provided that the person attrite can have the sacrament of penance and absolution of the priest.
1875 H. E. Manning Internal Mission of Holy Ghost i. 16 Sacramental grace to raise our sorrow from attrition to contrition.
1943 Irish Monthly 71 516 If the penitent has the degree of sorrow—or attrition—required for receiving absolution..all his sins are forgiven as to their guilt when the priest pronounces absolution.
1975 New Literary Hist. 7 122 A salvation..not through repentance and contrition but through attrition and anguish.
2006 O. F. Pardo Origins Mexican Catholicism iii. 100 In the case of penance, the church had to revisit its own stand on the role of attrition in the forgiveness of sins.
2. Surgery.† b. A prolapsed haemorrhoid or other polypoid lesion of the anus. Obsolete. rare.
a. Breaking, fragmentation, or crushing of tissue; an instance of this. Now rare.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders of bones > [noun] > fractures
brucheOE
fissurec1400
fracture?1541
compound fracture1543
fraction1587
attrition1634
effracture1634
flap-fracture1658
complicated fracture1745
abduction1753
star fracture1840
stress fracture1911
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 6 (MED) Of naylez & of þe disposicions of þam as is attricioun [L. attricio] i. brekyng, contusioun i. brussing.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 151 Castracioun..is made..after 2 manerez, ouþer by attricioun [L. attricionem] or by scissure.
1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. xv. i. 561 They call it attrition [L. attritionem], when the bone is broken into many small fragments.
1820 Q. Jrnl. Foreign Med. & Surg. 2 390 There is then an attrition or bruising of the parts struck by the projectile.
1914 Arms & Man 8 Oct. 25/1 From the surgical point of view the lesions produced by the bullet, attrition, comminution and abstraction..are in general in proportion to its speed.
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?1550 H. Llwyd tr. Pope John XXI Treasury of Healthe sig. M.iiv A Prouyd medicine ggaynste Hemorroydes and attrycions [printed attrycious] in the fundament.
3.
a. Surgery and Dentistry. Loss of tissue (in later use esp. from a tendon or a tooth), esp. as a result of wearing away by friction or pressure; an instance of this.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > [noun] > alteration of tissue > destruction or decomposition
putrefactiona1400
corrosionc1400
attrition1543
momorsion1598
1543 B. Traheron tr. J. de Vigo Most Excellent Wks. Chirurg. i. vi. f. 184/1 A greate medicine in all wrestynges and attritions of lacertes.
1597 P. Lowe Whole Course Chirurg. vi. iv. sig. T3 Contusion happeneth in the fleshie partes, and attrition is done in the head and ende of the muscles.
1651 P. Armin tr. F. Glisson et al. Treat. Rickets xvii. 182 This attrition and attenuation of the parts doth chiefly refer to the first affected parts in this Diseas.
1676 R. Wiseman Severall Chirurg. Treat. v. ix. 389 His Wound was between the Sagittall and Coronall Sutures to the Bone, with great attrition of the Hairy scalp.
1732 G. Smith Institutiones Chirurgicæ xiii. 193 It is only to be undertaken by those Persons whose Abilities are capable to resist or remove the formidable Train of Accidents that are liable to arise from the Attrition and Laceration of the sensible involving Membrane.
1808 Philadelphia Med. Museum 4 117 The os tincæ is brought nearer to the os externum, at the time when the genital system is in the condition described by Dr. Monro as the effect of the attrition of its very sensible and tender parts by the male organs.
1927 Internat. Jrnl. Orthodontia, Oral Surg. & Radiogr. 13 766 The maxilla of a young adult, probably a man, with teeth showing a certain degree of attrition.
2013 Jrnl. Clin. Orthopaedics & Trauma 4 41/1 MRI showed the impingement of osteochondroma on the supraspinatus muscle causing attrition of the tendon.
b. The action or process of wearing something down or away by friction; abrasion.
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the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > [noun] > loss of material > wearing away > wearing by friction
fretting1382
attrition1601
fridging1607
obtrition1658
detrition1674
detritus1795
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxxiii. iv. 466 Polished by that rubbing and attrition [L. attritu] which it meets withall, in the course and stream of the water.
1674 R. Boyle About Excellency & Grounds Mech. Hypothesis 28 in Excellency Theol. Such an attrition, as wears off the edges and points.
1718 J. Chamberlayne tr. B. Nieuwentyt Relig. Philosopher I. iv. §6 The Attrition or Breaking of the Food.
1795 J. Hutton Theory Earth (new ed.) I. 172 Sand..is no other than small fragments of hard and solid bodies, worn or rounded more or less by attrition.
1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 250 Pebbles and sand..decrease in size by attrition.
1882 Cent. Mag. June 317/2 Disintegrating machines, attrition and atomizing apparatus have been introduced, with the view of performing the work of grinding without the aid of burr-stones.
1932 Discovery Oct. 323/2 A very great advance..has been made in reducing the attrition of fabrics during washing.
1991 R. Goldring Fossils in Field iv. 84 Ostracoderm and other Devonian fish have large and often massive bony plates for part of their armour, which were highly resistant to attrition.
c. figurative or in figurative contexts.
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1678 R. Cudworth tr. Plato in True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 10 The whole Vniverse is Motion (of Atoms) and nothing else besides; which Motion is considered two ways, and accordingly called by two Names, Action and Passion; from the mutual Congress, and as it were Attrition together of both which, are begotten innumerable Off-springs.
a1682 Sir T. Browne Christian Morals (1716) ii. 49 The Compage of all Physical Truths is not..always so closely maintained, as not to suffer attrition.
1787 A. Young Jrnl. 22 June in Trav. France (1792) i. 117 The vulgar, who have a thousand asperities in the expression of their feelings, that cannot be found on the polished surface of those whose manners are smoothed by society, not worn by attrition.
1867 F. M. Müller Chips from German Workshop II. xxvii. 351 Contact with English society exercises a constant attrition on the system of castes.
1876 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Tom Sawyer xxvii. 209 The incidents of his adventure grew sensibly sharper and clearer under the attrition of thinking them over.
1884 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 1 Nov. Suppl. 1/3 Instead of this, which in war we call concentration, our actual policy was diffusion, an inferior Confederate force at each separate point defensively confronting a superior Federal force; our power daily shrinking, that of the enemy increasing; and the avowed Federal policy of ‘attrition’ of the bigger masses left free to grind the smaller, one by one, to naught.
1904 F. L. Ransome Geol. & Ore Deposits Bisbee Quadrangle, Arizona 17 The almost inevitable transformation undergone by names of Spanish origin in the attrition of familiar use.
2002 New Yorker 16 Dec. 106/1 Is he a hollow man, or a fully fledged soul who has been plucked and spatch-cocked by the attrition of modern life?
d. The process of reducing the strength or effectiveness of someone or something through sustained attack or pressure; (originally) spec. the gradual weakening of an enemy's forces by means of a sustained and unrelenting offensive. Frequent in Military contexts.Recorded earliest in war of attrition n. at Phrases. Cf. also quot. 1884 at sense 3c.
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society > armed hostility > attack > invasion > [noun] > persistent harrying or infestation
infestance1490
infestationc1540
infesting1676
infestment1819
attrition1890
1890 Belford’s Mag. Oct. 747 It was a war of attrition, and a dark, dreary track of desolations.
1914 Manch. Guardian 24 July 10/4 What..has caused professional fighting to deteriorate is the American system of in-fighting—a system of winning by attrition.
1915 Ld. Kitchener Memorandum in D. Lloyd George War Mem. (1933) I. xii. 435 The end of the War must come through one of the two following causes: (1) by a decisive victory..or (2) by attrition.
1919 D. Haig Despatches 21 Mar. (1919) 326 The rapid collapse of Germany's military powers..would not have taken place but for that period of ceaseless attrition.
1930 Daily Express 30 July 3/7 Fine weather at the Oval may mean an endurance test—perhaps a full week of slow batting and attack by process of attrition.
1958 Listener 13 Nov. 791/3 Nor did Montgomery, unfairly scornful though he is of generalship in the first world war, disdain tactics of attrition at times.
1970 R. E. S. Tanner Three Stud. in E. Afr. Criminol. 45 In both criminal and civil cases a series of adjournments will influence one of the parties so that if this tactic is prolonged with discretion, the other party will win by attrition.
2001 Time 19 Nov. 53/3 Though the Taliban came to power using ‘maneuver’ warfare..the regime more recently has won by attrition.
e. Originally U.S. The gradual reduction in the size of a workforce as a result of resignation, retirement, or death; (now esp.) the process of reducing the size a workforce by not replacing employees who leave, rather than by enforced redundancies or dismissals. Cf. natural wastage at wastage n. 1d(b).
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1915 Michigan Alumnus June 448/2 His loss..calls attention in a striking way to the constant attrition to which the Faculty of the University is suffering.
1945 Independent Record (Helena, Montana) 24 June 1/2 The cutback will release approximately 12,000 workers in 44 plants, the army estimated, but said that normal attrition and turnover would ‘materially reduce this figure’.
1960 Salt Lake Tribune 9 Jan. 15/1 Depot officials said they plan to take care of as much of the reduction in force as possible by normal attrition.
1982 Bond Buyer (Nexis) 2 Mar. 3 The city is already looking at removing 5,213 city workers from the payroll through attrition.
2001 Wall St. Jrnl. 26 Nov. b6/5 Other top strategy firms..are facing lower voluntary attrition and are applying up-or-out policies rigorously.
f. The action or process of reducing or being reduced in number, size, or quantity; gradual reduction or loss. Cf. attrition rate n. at Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > reduction in size or extent > [noun]
wanea1300
ravalling1609
extenuation1620
diminution1691
reduction1800
degrowth1920
attrition1924
downgrade1935
1924 Middletown (N.Y.) Daily Herald 14 May 4/2 The attrition that must follow in the wake of the lack of labor to supply the needs of this country..is going to seriously handicap us if not remedied.
1953 Copeia No. 4. 211/2 Delay of sexual maturity..would hardly seem to permit replacement of losses from the population if the rate of attrition is high.
1971 Sci. Amer. June 112/2 The resulting family of poults is subject to a high rate of attrition, owing to predators, vagaries of the weather and desertion.
1990 Internat. Jrnl. Epidemiology 19 797/1 Virtually all prospective studies involve the attrition of some subjects, whether due to deaths and other competing risks, refusals, emigration, or other reasons.
2000 R. Williams Lost Icons (2002) i. 50 At present in the United Kingdom, education is suffering a steady attrition of resources and imagination.
g. Linguistics. Originally: the gradual disappearance of a linguistic feature from a language. Later also: the gradual decline in use of or loss of ability in a language, esp. in a bilingual or multilingual community. Cf. language attrition n. at language n. Compounds 3.
ΚΠ
1934 Amer. Speech 9 213 One is also aware of the changes that have taken place in pronunciation, meaning, and spelling of words. These changes seem analogous to the process known in geographical parlance as attrition.]
1935 Internat. Jrnl. Amer. Linguistics 8 13/1 The temporal prefixes in this dialect show attrition.
1962 Language 38 32 Two cognate languages undergoing attrition at the same rate will lose x words in time t.
1991 Gnomon 63 506 The development of the accusative absolute cannot be simply attributed to the attrition of case endings.
2002 C. Myers-Scotton Contact Linguistics v. 168 I devote the most space to proposing alternative theoretical assumptions that predict the grammatical characteristics of a person's language when it shows attrition.
2003 Lang. in Society 32 558 Māori remained the language of the community for the first decades of colonization, but slowly, changes in the demographic balance..led to its attrition.
4.
a. Rubbing of one object or surface against another; friction. Also: the coming together of two or more objects with force. Also figurative.Not always easily distinguishable from sense 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > rubbing or friction > [noun]
frotting?c1225
chafinga1398
rubbinga1398
confricationc1400
frettingc1400
attrition1601
fricacing1607
perfrication1607
triture1607
affrication1615
affriction1615
confriction1617
rub1618
frication1631
intertrigation1651
perfriction1656
friction1718
interfrication1747
adhesion1825
chafe1848
interfriction1854
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. xvi. lx. 490 They make shift for to rub and grate one wood against another, and by this attrition [L. attritu] there fly out sparkes.
1651 A. Ross Arcana Microcosmi 190 He may prove there is sulphure in every hard thing, even in wood and sticks, for by attrition, or any other violent motion, they are inflamable.
1661 R. Lovell Πανζωορυκτολογια, sive Panzoologicomineralogia Isagoge sig. c2 Their [sc. insects] sound is by the attrition of the interiour pellicle, locusts make a noise by rubbing themselves with their gubernacula.
1776 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 66 230 Some..think that heat is produced in the lungs by the attrition of the blood in passing through them.
1778 V. Knox Ess. I. xxxvi. 264 Nor have yet become callous by attrition with the world.
1822 T. Webster Imison's Elem. Sci. & Art (new ed.) I. 70 When the mill is too slowly fed..the stones, by their attrition, are apt to strike fire.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits vi. 118 Much attrition has worn every sentence into a bullet.
1903 Professional & Amateur Photographer 8 167 This dust is not due to attrition of one fragment against another.
1912 Pop. Sci. Monthly July 240 The end of his course finds him but slightly changed by attrition with his comrades.
1999 G. H. Dibdin & J. Wimpenny in R. J. Doyle Biofilms xxiii. 298 Attrition between neighboring beads removes excess biofilm from their surfaces.
2010 W. P. Cooney et al. Wrist (ed. 2) xxii. 520/2 Rupture can be caused either secondary to a bony spur or secondary to attrition from prominent hardware.
b. An instance of two or more objects rubbing against or striking one another; an impact. Also figurative. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > [noun]
hittingc1440
strokea1533
illision1603
incursion1615
incussion1615
attrition1630
impinginga1727
impact1781
impingement1837
impaction1945
1630 Bp. J. Hall Occas. Medit. §xxvi The dangerous attritions of stubborne, and wrangling spirits.
1675 R. Boyle Exper. & Notes Corrosiveness i. 6 Their frequent and mutual Attritions may be supposed to have given edges like those of the blades of swords or knives.
1691 J. Ray Wisdom of God 187 Which was most providently design'd to repair the wast that is daily made of them by the frequent Attritions in Mastication.
1767 Ann. Reg. 1766 155/1 Though the mixture of tallow and charcoal-powder was found sufficiently durable when applied as above on pieces of flannel, it might, by the repeated attritions to which it is exposed on the body of the animal, be in danger of being rubbed off too soon.
1914 Maryland Med. Jrnl. 57 25 It has not been the accomplishment of a day, but little attritions here and there which have kept the spark alive.
Phrases
war of attrition n. a prolonged war characterized by sustained and unrelenting action designed to weaken the enemy to the point of collapse, rather than by decisive battles; (also in extended use) a prolonged and wearying contest, dispute, or feud.
ΚΠ
1890War of attrition [see sense 3d].
1914 Sphere 21 Nov. 181/1 This is a war of attrition, in which each side tries to wear down the other.
1915 Times 26 Jan. 10/6 Wilde was wonderfully quick and skilful... The one place from which he was usually conducting his almost hopeless campaign was the ropes... It was to be a ‘war of attrition,’ but this was the language of hope rather than belief.
1927 W. S. Churchill World Crisis III. i. ii. 45 The only method of waging war on the Western Front was by wearing down the enemy by ‘killing Germans in a war of attrition’.
1970 D. Barthelme City Life iii Conducting vigorous wars of attrition against our wives.
2003 Independent 31 July (Review section) 8 Recently,..I overheard the features team talking about some war of attrition between them and the art department.
2010 S. Junger War ii. v. 133 Since the Army had already admitted that this was not a war of attrition, using enemy casualties as a definition of success struck me as a tricky business.
Compounds
attrition rate n. the rate at which something is reduced or lost by attrition.
ΚΠ
1926 Washington Post 19 Dec. f12/3 It is not believed that the number of those officers that may wish to leave the service would bring the attrition rate up to the old figure.
1968 Economist 9 Nov. 74/2 Two major engine manufacturers..have been turning out spare engines for the large numbers of obsolete fighters used in Vietnam, whose ‘lower than expected attrition rate’..has kept them in service a good deal longer than expected.
1970 Nature 27 June 1272/1 In 1963 and 1964..a high attrition rate resulted from the use of ischaemically damaged grafts..and absence of tissue typing facilities.
2005 Shares 1 Dec. 34/1 It is suffering a very low attrition rate, with less than 10% of contracts not renewed.
attrition warfare n. Military the military strategy of waging a war of attrition (see Phrases); cf. attrit v. 2.
ΚΠ
1917 Jonesboro (Arkansas) Daily Tribune 29 May 2/2 Were it possible to break through the German lines and destroy the enemy’s armies,..the war could be won promptly, and the attrition warfare of the submarine defeated.
1977 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Dec. 1471/5 To apply one's own strength against the weakest points of the enemy array rather than to muster strength against strength, as in attrition warfare.
1991 T. Dupuy How to defeat Saddam Hussein vii. 82 The ‘Bulldozer’ concept is unadulterated attrition warfare.
2012 Toronto Star (Nexis) 28 Apr. wd1 This is like attrition warfare. There is no frontal assault that ends it all.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.a1400