Definition of "erosion" in English

noun

1. (uncountable) The result of having been worn away or eroded, as by a glacier on rock or the sea on a cliff face.

   • Father Ted: The cliffs were gone? How could they just disappear? Dougal: Erosion.

2. (uncountable) The changing of a surface by mechanical action, friction, thermal expansion contraction, or impact.

3. (uncountable, figurative) The gradual loss of something as a result of an ongoing process.

   • the erosion of a person's trust
   • trademark erosion, caused by everyday use of the trademarked term

4. (uncountable) Destruction by abrasive action of fluids.

5. (mathematics, image processing) One of two fundamental operations in morphological image processing from which all other morphological operations are derived.

6. (dentistry) Loss of tooth enamel due to non-bacteriogenic chemical processes.

7. (medicine) A shallow ulceration or lesion, usually involving skin or epithelial tissue.

8. (mathematics) In morphology, a basic operation (denoted ⊖); see Erosion (morphology).