abrade

American  

[uh-breyd] / əˈbreɪd /

verb (used with or without object)

abraded, abrading

1. to wear off or down by scraping or rubbing.

2. to scrape off.

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abrade British  

/ əˈbreɪd /

verb

1. (tr) to scrape away or wear down by friction; erode

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Other Word Forms

• abradable adjective
• abradant noun
• abrader noun
• unabraded adjective

Etymology

Origin of abrade

1670–80; < Latin abrādere, equivalent to ab- ab- + rādere to scrape

Explanation

When you abrade something, you scrub it vigorously. To clean your dirty bathtub well, you'll have to abrade it with a scrub brush and powdered bleach. When you scour something so vigorously that you remove dirt, grime, or even the surface of the thing you're scrubbing, you abrade it. You might need to abrade your fingers with a nail brush to get them clean after working on your oily car engine all afternoon. The word abrade is related to abrasion — a scrape on the skin — and both words come from the Latin root abradere, which means "to scrape off."

Example Sentences

Its nine stories concern the complicated Bengali families in India and America, and Lahiri’s elegant, observant prose is constantly alert to the ways that lore and folkways shape or abrade relationships.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2025

One recent study suggests that many particles enter the water when you repeatedly open or close the cap, and tiny bits abrade.

From Science Daily • Jan. 8, 2024

During one brawl, the editor Dan Lebental cuts again and again to Edgin stuck on the sidelines struggling to abrade his rope cuffs.

From New York Times • Mar. 30, 2023

This parodic picaresque finds Sturges at the zenith of his formidable powers to abrade and delight.

From Washington Post • Jul. 28, 2021

Urban life tended to abrade tribal and ethnic distinctions, and instead of being Xhosas, or Sothos, or Zulus, or Shangaans, we were Alexandrians.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela