erosion

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.”

   “Even second-generation biofuels, made from crop wastes or wood, are an environmental disaster, either extending the cultivated area or removing the straw and stovers which protect the soil from erosion and keep carbon and nutrients in the ground.”

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

   “No social system that isn’t built upon the belief to the divine, or morality and traditional values, can withstand the erosion and degeneration of humankind’s morality, including democracy.”

4. (uncountable)Destruction by abrasive action of fluids.
5. (countable, uncountable)One of two fundamental operations in morphological image processing from which all other morphological operations are derived.
6. (countable, uncountable)Loss of tooth enamel due to non-bacteriogenic chemical processes.
7. (countable, uncountable)A shallow ulceration or lesion, usually involving skin or epithelial tissue.
8. (countable, uncountable)In morphology, a basic operation (denoted ⊖); see Erosion (morphology).