Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To destroy a metal or alloy gradually, especially by oxidation or chemical action.
  • intransitive verb To impair steadily; deteriorate.
  • intransitive verb To be eaten or worn away.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Literally, to eat or gnaw away gradually; hence, to wear away, diminish, or disintegrate (a body) by gradually separating small particles from (it), especially by the action of a chemical agent: as, nitric acid corrodes copper: often used figuratively.
  • Synonyms To canker, gnaw, waste.
  • To gnaw; eat or wear away gradually.
  • Figuratively, to become gradually impaired or deteriorated; waste away.
  • To act by or as if by corrosion or canker, or a process of eating or wearing away.

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

  • transitive verb To eat away by degrees; to wear away or diminish by gradually separating or destroying small particles of, as by action of a strong acid or a caustic alkali.
  • transitive verb To consume; to wear away; to prey upon; to impair.
  • intransitive verb To have corrosive action; to be subject to corrosion.
  • intransitive verb lead sufficiently pure to be used in making white lead by a process of corroding.

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

  • verb transitive To eat away by degrees; to wear away or diminish by gradually separating or destroying small particles of, as by action of a strong acid or a caustic alkali.
  • verb transitive To consume; to wear away; to prey upon; to impair.
  • verb intransitive To have corrosive action; to be subject to corrosion.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb become destroyed by water, air, or a corrosive such as an acid
  • verb cause to deteriorate due to the action of water, air, or an acid

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English corroden, from Latin corrōdere, to gnaw away : com-, intensive pref.; see com– + rōdere, to gnaw; see rēd- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin corrodere ("to gnaw"), via the French corroder.

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Examples

  • Corrosion Control All materials corrode, which is to say every substance eventually changes from one form to another through chemical reactions.

    Engineering News | Home 2009

  • Corrosion Control All materials corrode, which is to say every substance eventually changes from one form to another through chemical reactions.

    Engineering News | Home 2009

  • Corrosion Control All materials corrode, which is to say every substance eventually changes from one form to another through chemical reactions.

    Engineering News | Home 2009

  • Corrosion Control All materials corrode, which is to say every substance eventually changes from one form to another through chemical reactions.

    Engineering News | Home 2009

  • Corrosion Control All materials corrode, which is to say every substance eventually changes from one form to another through chemical reactions.

    Engineering News | Home 2009

  • Corrosion Control All materials corrode, which is to say every substance eventually changes from one form to another through chemical reactions.

    Engineering News | Home 2009

  • Corrosion Control All materials corrode, which is to say every substance eventually changes from one form to another through chemical reactions.

    Engineering News | Home 2009

  • Corrosion Control All materials corrode, which is to say every substance eventually changes from one form to another through chemical reactions.

    Engineering News | Home 2009

  • The horror you feel at "moral decay" is, to the Elders of Sodom, quite self-evidentally an affective defense mechanism, designed to function as a barrier to anything that might "corrode" your convictions.

    An Open Letter to John C. Wright Hal Duncan 2009

  • The horror you feel at "moral decay" is, to the Elders of Sodom, quite self-evidentally an affective defense mechanism, designed to function as a barrier to anything that might "corrode" your convictions.

    Archive 2009-08-01 Hal Duncan 2009

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