The DICT Development Group

  Attrition \At*tri"tion\, n. [L. attritio: cf. F. attrition.]
     1. The act of rubbing together; friction; the act of wearing
        by friction, or by rubbing substances together; abrasion.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Effected by attrition of the inward stomach.
                                                    --Arbuthnot.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The state of being worn. --Johnson.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Theol.) Grief for sin arising only from fear of
        punishment or feelings of shame. See Contrition.
        --Wallis.
        [1913 Webster]

  attrition
      n 1: erosion by friction [syn: abrasion, attrition,
           corrasion, detrition]
      2: the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water
         or wind or ice [syn: grinding, abrasion, attrition,
         detrition]
      3: sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation [syn:
         attrition, contrition, contriteness]
      4: a wearing down to weaken or destroy; "a war of attrition"
      5: the act of rubbing together; wearing something down by
         friction

  150 Moby Thesaurus words for "attrition":
     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