noun
adjective
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causing abrasion; grating; rough
-
irritating in manner or personality; causing tension or annoyance
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of abrasive
Explanation
What does an obnoxious person have in common with sandpaper? Both are abrasive. Anything that grates or irritates — physically or metaphorically — can be described using this adjective. The history of the word abrasive illustrates how a word typically enters the English language and then changes with time. The English verb abrade, "to wear down by scraping," entered the language from Latin abradere, "to scrape off," in the late 1600s. Some 200 years later, the adjective form of the word — abrasive — came into use to describe a type of grinding tool. By the 1920s, abrasive had acquired the more figurative sense of annoying and infuriating. If you find someone abrasive, he or she grinds away at your nerves.
Vocabulary lists containing abrasive
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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Hamilton
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All The Feels: Touching Words For Textures
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Moonprint Solutions, a small business, is developing flexible protective covers that shield equipment from the Moon's highly abrasive dust.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
On the smaller King Tut's Stage, Big Special, who hail from the West Midlands, declared Glasgow to be "the Birmingham of Scotland", before delivering an abrasive set of rock, hip hop and soul.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
Dissension among the board grew, and Neugebauer’s charismatic, but at-times abrasive, style rubbed some the wrong way, some of the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026
Altman's unassuming, friendly demeanor contrasted sharply with Musk's abrasive style, but they shared an entrepreneurial spirit and a penchant for risk-taking.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
Even the sound of the water sloshing against the bath’s tiled sides became inexplicably abrasive.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Safety and industrial sales increased 4.1%, as strong demand in electrical markets, adhesives and abrasives offset continued challenges in the vehicle aftermarket business.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2025
They also advise against using thinners, nylon or metal scrubbers, or abrasives - all of which could damage the surface of the toilet seat.
From BBC ● Dec. 30, 2024
He also said a robot would be able to use "tougher, more aggressive abrasives" than a human could tolerate.
From Science Daily ● May 2, 2024
The modern sandpaper you see at hardware and paint stores is made from a combination of natural and man-made abrasives.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2023
What's more, he couldn't be sure whether he held a king's ransom in his hand or a few dollars' worth of industrial abrasives.
From The Flaming Mountain by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
