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friction

noun

Simple meaning

Effort expended in moving one object over another with pressure.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

frikshuhn

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfɹɪkʃən

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Effort expended in moving one object over another with pressure

  2. The rubbing of one object or surface against another.

  3. figuratively

    Conflict, as between persons having dissimilar ideas or interests; clash.

  4. physics

    A force that resists the relative motion or tendency to such motion of two bodies in contact.

  5. A state of conflict between persons

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A force that resists the relative motion or tendency to such motion of two bodies in contact.

Used this way, friction is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Science
  • Academic writing
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use friction

  • “There was some friction between the two colleagues about the project.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

static frictionfriction lossinternal frictionfriction coefficientfriction factorskin frictionfriction forcereduce friction

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • friction clutchnounCompound term

    A clutch in which one part turns the other by the friction between them.

  • friction matchnounCompound term

    Lighter consisting of a thin piece of wood or cardboard tipped with combustible chemical.

  • friction tapenounCompound term

    A water-resistant adhesive tape used to insulate exposed electrical conductors.

  • adhesive frictionnounCompound term

    The friction between a body and the surface on which it moves (as between an automobile tire and the road).

  • slip friction clutchnounCompound term

    A friction clutch that will slip when the torque is too great.

  • coefficient of frictionnounCompound term

    The ratio of the weight of an object being moved along a surface and the force that maintains contact between the object and the surface.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.