Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Worn by rubbing or friction. Milton.
  • In theology, imperfectly contrite or repentant. See attrition, 3.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Rubbed; worn by friction.
  • adjective (Theol.) Repentant from fear of punishment; having attrition of grief for sin; -- opposed to contrite.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Alternative form of attrit.
  • adjective regretful of one's wrongdoing merely due to fear of punishment (compare contrite)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin attritus.

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Examples

  • The other side of the issue is more direct: defending against hit-and-run (i) radically increases the economic cost of fielding an army, (ii) radically reduces military effectiveness, and (iii) if not done effectively, will gradually attrite the army to the point of lacking military effectiveness.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Burma Gun Controls: 2007

  • The way we are designed to fight and are fighting is to use intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to identify enemy locations, and then use our air and long shooters, ATACMS, MLRS and artillery to attrite enemy forces, so that when we finally close in ground combat, in fact, it's not an even fight.

    CNN Transcript Apr 4, 2003 2003

  • The first two clips highlight our efforts to attrite Taliban 5th Corps in the north near Mazar-i-Sharif.

    CNN Transcript Oct 23, 2001 2001

  • Covering force units attrite the enemy, deceive him as to the location of the MBA, slow his speed of advance, cause him to mass, and may cause him to divulge his intentions.

    FM 90-4 Chapter 4 United States Army 1987

  • Maintaining a call center is expensive, and the company will undertake whatever means it can in order to force you onto an automated system or, barring that, attrite you into submission.

    Lawyers, Guns & Money 2010

  • Thirdly, the adversaries say that sin is remitted; because an attrite or contrite person elicits an act of love to God [if we undertake from reason to love God], and by this act merits to receive the remission of sins.

    Apology of the Augsburg Confession Philipp Melanchthon 1528

  • Different merchant size attrition really makes a huge difference in this and there's lot of empirical evidence that the smaller merchants attrite much more quickly then the larger ones and that really messes it up.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2009

  • Different merchant size attrition really makes a huge difference in this and there's lot of empirical evidence that the smaller merchants attrite much more quickly then the larger ones and that really messes it up.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2009

  • The more enemy we attrite .. the more enemy we have.

    whoar.co.nz 2009

  • We had a very specific back to back tariff with BT and the program management that we put in place for that business to attrite off of the network was almost mapping that one for one.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2009

Comments

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  • (adj): worn by rubbing, or friction: (Roman Catholic Church), having attrition, or sorrow, less than contrition, for sin.

    January 18, 2009

  • Psst, hernesheir, it's an adjective.

    January 18, 2009

  • This word is recently being used as a verb, back-formed from attrition - see Wordnik examples.

    July 3, 2010

  • When buzzards descend and alight

    Then plutocrats take an affright

    And fiercely abjure

    All Satan’s allure.

    At Hell’s looming gate they’re attrite.

    June 2, 2018