Attrition

1. (n.) The act of rubbing together; friction; the act of wearing by friction, or by rubbing substances together; abrasion.

2. (n.) The state of being worn.

3. (n.) Grief for sin arising only from fear of punishment or feelings of shame. See Contrition.

Thesaurus Entries

abatement, ablation, abrasion, abrasive, absorption, apologies, assimilation, atomization, attenuation, ayenbite of inwit, beating, bitterness, blunting, brecciation, buffing, burning up, burnishing, chafe, chafing, comminution, consumption, contriteness, contrition, corrosion, crumbling, crushing, curtailment, cut, cutting, damping, deadening, debilitation, decrease, decrement, deliquescence, depletion, depreciation, derogation, detraction, detrition, devitalization, digestion, dilution, diminution, dip, disintegration, disparagement, dissipation, dissolution, drain, dressing, dulling, eating up, effemination, enervation, enfeeblement, erasure, erosion, evisceration, exhaustion, expending, expenditure, extenuation, extraction, fatigue, filing, finishing, fragmentation, fretting, galling, granulation, granulization, grating, grazing, grief, grinding, impairment, impoverishment, inanition, ingestion, languishment, lessening, levigation, limation, loss, mashing, mitigation, penance, penitently, polishing, pounding, powdering, rasping, reduction, regret, regretfulness, regrets, regretting, relaxation, remission, remorse, remorse of conscience, remorsefulness, repentance, repining, retraction, retrenchment, rubbing away, rue, ruth, sandblasting, sanding, scouring, scrape, scraping, scratch, scratching, scrub, scrubbing, scuff, shame, shamefacedness, shamefastness, shamefulness, shining, shortening, shredding, shrinkage, slackening, smashing, smoothing, softening, sorriness, sorrow, spending, squandering, thinning, trituration, truncation, using up, wastage, waste, wastefulness, wasting away, weakening, wear, wear and tear, wearing away, wearing down, wistfulness