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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Erosion \E*ro"sion\, noun [L. erosio. See {Erode}.]
1. The act or operation of eroding or eating away.
2. The state of being eaten away; corrosion; canker.
3. The wearing away of the earth's surface by any natural process. The chief agent of erosion is running water; minor agents are glaciers, the wind, and waves breaking against the coast. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
4. a gradual reduction or lessening as if by an erosive force; as, erosion of political support due to scandal; erosion of buying power by inflation. [fig.] [PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
erosion
noun
1: (geology) the mechanical process of wearing or grinding something down (as by particles washing over it) [syn: {eroding}, {eating away}, {wearing}, {wearing away}]
2: condition in which the earth's surface is worn away by the action of water and wind
3: a gradual decline of something; "after the accounting scandal there was an erosion of confidence in the auditors"
4: erosion by chemical action [syn: {corrosion}, {corroding}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
97 Moby Thesaurus words for "erosion": ablation, abrading, abrasion, abrasive, absorption, abstraction, assimilation, atomization, attrition, breakup, buffing, burning up, burnishing, chafe, chafing, consumption, corroding, corrosion, crumbling, decay, decomposition, decrease, decrement, deduction, degradation, deliquescence, depletion, depreciation, detrition, digestion, dilapidation, disintegration, disjunction, disorganization, dissipation, dissolution, drain, dressing, eating up, erasure, evaporation, exhaustion, expending, expenditure, filing, finishing, fraying, fretting, galling, grazing, grinding, impoverishment, incoherence, ingestion, leakage, limation, loss, polishing, purification, rasping, ravages of time, refinement, removal, resolution, rubbing away, sandblasting, sanding, scouring, scrape, scraping, scratch, scratching, scrub, scrubbing, scuff, shining, shrinkage, smoothing, spending, squandering, subduction, sublation, subtraction, taking away, use, using, using up, wastage, waste, wastefulness, wasting away, wear, wear and tear, wearing, wearing away, wearing down, weathering
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