From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishattritionat‧tri‧tion /əˈtrɪʃən/ noun [uncountable] formal 1 ATTACKthe process of gradually destroying your enemy or making them weak by attacking them continuously a war of attrition2 especially American English when people leave a company or course of study and are not replaced Staff reductions could be achieved through attrition and early retirements.
Examples from the Corpus
attrition• It assumes a 5 percent annual attrition rate but that might be over-generous.• These are the economics, not of efficiency, but of attrition.• a war of attrition• One is to continue his war of attrition against parliament, albeit from a position of greater strength since the referendum.• The 2. 05 percent attrition rate the agency had managed to maintain promised to go straight through the roof.• Worse was expected to come as industrial and domestic consumption of electricity picked up after the attrition of the war years.• Part of the attrition on my military reserves had been the expenses.• Their attrition rates generally are even higher than the rates at four-year institutions.war of attrition• In this species the two parents' chloroplasts engage in a war of attrition that destroys 95 percent of them.• The ruling will also have implications for the company's on-going war of attrition with AT&T Co.• Points were difficult to come by in the second-half war of attrition.• One is to continue his war of attrition against parliament, albeit from a position of greater strength since the referendum.• Rodrigo now began a systematic war of attrition, biting deep into Valencian territory and reducing several of its castles to rubble.• During 1917 the war of attrition continued.• Such was the war of attrition.• The highlights of this war of attrition are well known.From Longman Business Dictionaryattritionat‧tri‧tion /əˈtrɪʃən/ noun [uncountable]1HUMAN RESOURCES the process of reducing the number of employees by not replacing those who leave for normal reasons, such as changing jobs, RETIREMENT (=leaving a job when you reach a certain age) etcThe bank plans to reduce its staff by as much as 5% this year by natural attrition.2MARKETING when customers are lost, for example because they start buying a competitor’s productThe success of this credit card has contributed to the attrition of card holders from other issuers.Origin attrition (1400-1500) Latin attritio, from atterere “to rub against”, from ad- “to” + terere “to rub” 