EROSION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does erosion mean? 

• EROSION (noun)
  The noun EROSION has 4 senses:

1. (geology) the mechanical process of wearing or grinding something down (as by particles washing over it)

2. condition in which the earth's surface is worn away by the action of water and wind

3. a gradual decline of something

4. erosion by chemical action

  Familiarity information: EROSION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EROSION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(geology) the mechanical process of wearing or grinding something down (as by particles washing over it)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

eating away; eroding; erosion; wearing; wearing away

Hypernyms ("erosion" is a kind of...):

geologic process; geological process ((geology) a natural process whereby geological features are modified)

Domain category:

geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "erosion"):

chatter mark (marks on a glaciated rock caused by the movement of a glacier)

ablation (the erosive process that reduces the size of glaciers)

abrasion; attrition; corrasion; detrition (erosion by friction)

beach erosion (the erosion of beaches)

deflation ((geology) the erosion of soil as a consequence of sand and dust and loose rocks being removed by the wind)

planation (the process of erosion whereby a level surface is produced)

soil erosion (the washing away of soil by the flow of water)

Derivation:

erode (remove soil or rock)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Condition in which the earth's surface is worn away by the action of water and wind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("erosion" is a kind of...):

environmental condition (the state of the environment)

Derivation:

erode (remove soil or rock)

erode (become ground down or deteriorate)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A gradual decline of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Context example:

after the accounting scandal there was an erosion of confidence in the auditors

Hypernyms ("erosion" is a kind of...):

decline; diminution (change toward something smaller or lower)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Erosion by chemical action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

corroding; corrosion; erosion

Hypernyms ("erosion" is a kind of...):

chemical action; chemical change; chemical process ((chemistry) any process determined by the atomic and molecular composition and structure of the substances involved)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "erosion"):

indentation; pitting; roughness (the formation of small pits in a surface as a consequence of corrosion)

rust; rusting (the formation of reddish-brown ferric oxides on iron by low-temperature oxidation in the presence of water)

 Context examples 

Examining a device for signs of unexpected erosion on its surface or other components or parts.

(Device Wear Testing Evaluation Method, Food and Drug Administration)

As expected, mutant mice fed a regular diet developed hind paw inflammation, bone erosion, and enlarged lymph nodes by day 100.

(Diet Affects Autoinflammatory Disease Via Gut Microbes, NIH)

The new study offers insight into its longevity and the erosion that shapes new islands.

(NASA Shows New Tongan Island Made of Tuff Stuff, Likely to Persist Years, NASA)

Drug release is facilitated and controlled by in vivo erosion of the liposomes.

(Injectable Liposomal Suspension Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

A mucosal erosion that occurs in the esophagus, stomach or duodenum.

(Peptic Ulcer, NCI Thesaurus)

It may lead to bone erosion and infections.

(Maxillary Sinus Cholesteatoma, NCI Thesaurus)

It is characterized by the presence of painful blisters and erosions in the skin and mucous membranes.

(Pemphigus Vulgaris, NCI Thesaurus)

Filamentary keratitis or erosion of the conjunctival and corneal epithelium may be caused by these disorders.

(Dry Eye Syndrome, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Device problems due to the premature or expected erosion of its material by use, deterioration, or change.

(Device Wear Problem Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

On the whole, tropical deforestation generates large economic losses and subsequent erosion from conversion was not even factored into the analysis.

(Most countries lose out with forest-to-farm conversions, SciDev.Net)