noun
adjective
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causing abrasion; grating; rough
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irritating in manner or personality; causing tension or annoyance
Other Word Forms
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.
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
This abrasive quality is what allows the sponge to "erase" stains.
From Science Daily • Apr. 18, 2026
Sparkling and rebarbative, abrasive and relentlessly performative, it is, in other words, classic Will Self.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
And despite the abrasive whir of machinery nearby, on this Monday afternoon, the sound of children laughing cut through the noise.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 27, 2026
He’d spent time with Nixon and found him abrasive and inflexible.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
