erosion

[ ih-roh-zhuhn ]

noun

1. the act or state of eroding; state of being eroded.
2. the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by the action of water, glaciers, winds, waves, etc.
3. the gradual decline or disintegration of something:

   Each candidate is blaming the other’s party for the erosion of international trade.

erosion

/ ɪˈrəʊʒən /

noun

1. the wearing away of rocks and other deposits on the earth's surface by the action of water, ice, wind, etc
2. the act or process of eroding or the state of being eroded

erosion

/ ĭ-rō′zhən /

1. The gradual wearing away of land surface materials, especially rocks, sediments, and soils, by the action of water, wind, or a glacier. Usually erosion also involves the transport of eroded material from one place to another, as from the top of a mountain to an adjacent valley, or from the upstream portion of a river to the downstream portion.

erosion

1. A type of weathering in which surface soil and rock are worn away through the action of glaciers , water, and wind.

Derived Forms

• eˈrosive, adjective

Other Words From

• e·ro·sion·al adjective
• an·ti·e·ro·sion adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of erosion¹

First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin ērōsiōn- (stem of ērōsiō ), derivative of ērōdere “to gnaw, eat away”; erode, -ion

Example Sentences

More than $40 trillion of retirement savings is at risk of erosion if inflation returns.

From Fortune

A ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigation found that the Rio Grande Valley project suffered from major erosion just months after it was finished.

From ProPublica

A ProPublica-Tribune investigation found that the Rio Grande Valley project suffered from major erosion just months after it was finished.

From ProPublica

The research team examined 10,276 individual valleys found in 66 valley networks on Mars, using custom-built algorithms to group them and infer what kind of erosion processes formed them.

From MIT Technology Review

Additionally, over the last 20 million years, the building of the Himalayas, Andes, Alps and other mountains has more than doubled erosion rates, boosting weathering.

From Quanta Magazine

Focus on the gays—not on the economy, the erosion of civil society, or the lack of democracy.

From The Daily Beast

The more socially conservative libertarian-conservatives worry about family cohesion and erosion of religious belief.

From The Daily Beast

And the health law might not prohibit it, opening a door to potential erosion of employer-based coverage.

From The Daily Beast

While not as bad as some environmentalists have expected, there is beach erosion.

From The Daily Beast

The result is a continual erosion of the business—fewer subscriptions sold, fewer print ads sold, even as costs rise annually.

From The Daily Beast

Nowhere perhaps has the great water erosion of bygone aeons wrought more grotesquely and fantastically than in the Moqui basin.

From Project Gutenberg

This erosion had been carried along the cañon on an even line of altitude as far as the softer layer extended.

From Project Gutenberg

On steep slopes a certain number of trees must be left to protect the watershed and to prevent the erosion of the soil.

From Project Gutenberg

Its substance is well preserved; the surface was once highly polished, but now is pitted by erosion and discolored by age.

From Project Gutenberg

Sastrugi, only six inches high, seen on the 26th, showed the effects of wind-erosion exquisitely.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• corrosion
• decrease
• destruction
• disintegration