Corrode
//kəˈɹoʊd// verb
verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To eat away bit by bit; to wear away or diminish by gradually separating or destroying small particles of, as by action of a strong acid or a caustic alkali. transitive
- 2 become destroyed by water, air, or a corrosive such as an acid wordnet
- 3 To consume; to wear away; to prey upon; to impair. transitive
"My morale is being corroded day by day."
- 4 cause to deteriorate due to the action of water, air, or an acid wordnet
- 5 To have corrosive action; to be subject to corrosion. intransitive
Example
More examples"The substance can irritate or corrode the skin, eyes, or mucous membranes."
Etymology
From Middle English corrōden, that borrowed from Old French corroder or directly from Latin corrōdere (“to gnaw”), from con- (“completely”) + rōdere (“to gnaw”).
Related phrases
More for "corrode"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.