Adjacent Words

Corrode definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CORRODE, v.t. [L., to eat or gnaw.]
1. To eat away by degrees; to wear away, or diminish, by gradually separating small particles from a body, in the manner an animal gnaws a substance. Thus, nitric acid corrodes copper.
2. To wear away by degrees; to prey upon; to impair; to consume, or diminish by slow degrees. Jealousy and envy corrode the constitution. Substances are corroded by time. The anxious man is a victim to corroding care.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: cause to deteriorate due to the action of water, air, or an acid; "The acid corroded the metal"; "The steady dripping of water rusted the metal stopper in the sink" [syn: corrode, eat, rust]
2: become destroyed by water, air, or a corrosive such as an acid; "The metal corroded"; "The pipes rusted" [syn: corrode, rust]

Merriam Webster's

verb (corroded; corroding) Etymology: Middle English, from Latin corrodere to gnaw to pieces, from com- + rodere to gnaw — more at rodent Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to eat away by degrees as if by gnawing; especially to wear away gradually usually by chemical action <the metal was corroded beyond repair> 2. to weaken or destroy gradually ; undermine <manners and miserliness that corrode the human spirit — Bernard De Voto> intransitive verb to undergo corrosion • corrodible adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 a tr. wear away, esp. by chemical action. b intr. be worn away; decay. 2 tr. destroy gradually (optimism corroded by recent misfortunes). Derivatives: corrodible adj. Etymology: ME f. L corrodere corros- (as COM-, rodere gnaw)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Corrode Cor*rode" (k?r-r?d") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Corroded; p. pr. & vb. n. Corroding.] [L. corrodere, -rosum; cor + rodere to gnaw: cf. F. corroder. See Rodent.] 1. To eat away by degrees; to wear away or diminish by gradually separating or destroying small particles of, as by action of a strong acid or a caustic alkali. Aqua fortis corroding copper . . . is wont to reduce it to a green-blue solution. --Boyle. 2. To consume; to wear away; to prey upon; to impair.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Corrode Cor*rode", v. i. To have corrosive action; to be subject to corrosion. Corroding lead, lead sufficiently pure to be used in making white lead by a process of corroding. Syn: To canker; gnaw; rust; waste; wear away.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(corrodes, corroding, corroded) 1. If metal or stone corrodes, or is corroded, it is gradually destroyed by a chemical or by rust. He has devised a process for making gold wires which neither corrode nor oxidise... Engineers found the structure had been corroded by moisture... Acid rain destroys trees and corrodes buildings. VERB: V, be V-ed, V n • corroded The investigators found that the underground pipes were badly corroded. ADJ 2. To corrode something means to gradually make it worse or weaker. (LITERARY) Suffering was easier to bear than the bitterness he felt corroding his spirit... VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Erode, canker, eat away. 2. Consume, waste, wear away, prey upon, impair. 3. Blight, poison, envenom, embitter.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, ablate, atomize, bate, be eaten away, bite, break up, canker, come apart, consume, consume away, crack up, crumble, crumble into dust, decay, decline, decompose, decrease, deliquesce, die away, diminish, disintegrate, disjoin, disorganize, dissolve, dive, drop, drop off, dwindle, eat, eat away, eat into, eat out, ebb, erode, etch, fall, fall away, fall off, fall to pieces, fission, gnaw, languish, lessen, let up, melt away, molder, nibble away, oxidize, plummet, plunge, run low, rust, sag, scour, shrink, sink, split, subside, tail off, wane, waste, waste away, wear, wear away