| / English Dictionary |
FRICTION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Effort expended in moving one object over another with pressure
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("friction" is a kind of...):
effort; elbow grease; exertion; sweat; travail (use of physical or mental energy; hard work)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "friction"):
attrition (the act of rubbing together; wearing something down by friction)
Derivation:
frictional (pertaining to or worked or produced by friction)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The resistance encountered when one body is moved in contact with another
Synonyms:
friction; rubbing
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural phenomena
Hypernyms ("friction" is a kind of...):
resistance (any mechanical force that tends to retard or oppose motion)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "friction"):
abrasion; attrition; detrition; grinding (the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water or wind or ice)
adhesive friction; grip; traction (the friction between a body and the surface on which it moves (as between an automobile tire and the road))
Derivation:
frictional (pertaining to or worked or produced by friction)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A state of conflict between persons
Synonyms:
clash; friction
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("friction" is a kind of...):
conflict (a state of opposition between persons or ideas or interests)
Context examples:
There was, therefore, as can be imagined, some little social friction when the young couple (for they were still young) found themselves in their new surroundings.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She glanced down in surprise at her own feet, and I observed the slight roughening of the side of the sole caused by the friction of the edge of the pedal.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Corns and calluses are caused by pressure or friction on your skin.
(Corns and Calluses, NIH: National Institute on Aging)
The group's research also included detailed studies of the friction produced by the birds' claws and feet.
(Researchers study birds to improve how robots land, National Science Foundation)
Injury to tissues caused by contact with dry heat, moist heat, flames, chemicals, electricity, friction or radiant and electromagnetic energy.
(Burn, Food and Drug Administration)
A device similar to a bushing but designed to reduce the linear friction between a piston and its cylinder.
(Piston Guide Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)
Soil liquefaction, which causes this kind of landslide, occurs when the shaking from a large earthquake rips through moist, loose soil, overpowering the friction that normally holds dirt particles together.
(NASA Map Reveals a New Landslide Risk Factor, NASA)
A thickening of the skin due to friction or pressure which results in the formation of a small, painful, raised bump associated with a conical mass pointing down into the dermis.
(Corn, NCI Thesaurus)
Heat from friction could power hydrothermal activity on Saturn's moon Enceladus for billions of years if the moon has a highly porous core, according to a new modeling study by European and U.S. researchers working on NASA's Cassini mission.
(Powering Saturn's Active Ocean Moon, NASA)
The conjugal affection of her father and mother constituted her ideal of love-affinity, and she looked forward some day to emerging, without shock or friction, into that same quiet sweetness of existence with a loved one.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
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