abrasion
/əˈbɹeɪ.ʒən/ noun
Forms abrasions
- noun The act of abrading, wearing, or rubbing off; the wearing away by friction. “The metal surface showed signs of abrasion after years of use.”
- noun An act of abrasiveness.
- noun (obsolete) The substance thus rubbed off; debris.
- noun (geology) The effect of mechanical erosion of rock, especially a river bed, by rock fragments scratching and scraping it.
- noun An abraded, scraped, or worn area.
- noun (medicine) A superficial wound caused by scraping; an area of skin where the cells on the surface have been scraped or worn away. “The doctor cleaned the small skin abrasion on her knee.”
- noun (dentistry) The wearing away of the surface of the tooth by chewing.
Synonyms
scratch scrape excoriation attrition corrasion detrition grinding
Etymology
First attested in 1656. From French abrasion (attested since 1611), from Medieval Latin abrasio (“a scraping”), from Latin abrādō (“scrape off”). See also abrade.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act of abrading, wearing, or rubbing off; the wearing away by friction; as, the abrasion of coins.
- noun The substance rubbed off. Berkeley.
Etymology [L. abrasio, fr. abradere. See Abrade.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “abrasion”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details