The process by which soil, rock, or land is gradually worn away by water, wind, ice, or human activity. It can also describe the slow loss or weakening of something like rights or support.
From Latin *erosionem* 'a gnawing away', from *erodere* 'to gnaw out'. It moved from a physical sense to figurative uses over time.
Erosion shapes coastlines, canyons, and even entire continents, but it works so slowly we usually only see the results, not the process. We borrow the same word when we talk about 'the erosion of privacy' or 'erosion of democracy'. That’s a warning that big losses can happen through tiny, repeated changes we ignore.
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