Abrader

//əˈbɹeɪ.dɚ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Something that abrades; a tool or machine for abrading.

    "1856, H. A. Dewar, Actuating Mechanism for Rotating Tools, Patent dated 1 March, 1856, in The Practical Mechanic’s Journal, Volume I, p. 232, […] provision is made for the attachment thereto of various operating tools, such, for example, as drills, saws, grindstones, polishers, and cutters, or abraders or shapers of various kinds."

  2. 2
    a tool or machine used for wearing down or smoothing or polishing wordnet
  3. 3
    Something that abrades; a tool or machine for abrading.; A primitive artifact made of sandstone used for smoothing, sharpening, or shaping.

    "1993, Nan McNutt and Marilyn Jesmain, Passages: An Archaeology Timeline of Southeast Alaska, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Alaska Region, 5,000 years ago the people of Southeast Alaska began grinding bone on a sandy stone called an abrader to form the desired shape and sharpness."

  4. 4
    Something that abrades; a tool or machine for abrading.; A surgical instrument used to abrade bone or other tissue.

    "a cartilage abrader; a corneal abrader"

Synonyms

All synonyms
abradantabrasor

Example

More examples

"The rover’s robotic arm carries several other instruments that will be helpful in revealing what secrets the rocks might hold. When scientists find a particularly interesting item, they can reach out and use the arm’s abrader to grind and flatten its surface, revealing its underlying structure and composition."

Etymology

From abrade + -er.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.