to grind down
10
6.1
- phrasal verb
- /ɡraɪnd daʊn/
- But their will had finally broken; the long war had ground them down.
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Watch on YouTubeYou're essentially grinding down the surface of the heat sink block.
- You're essentially grinding down the surface of the heat sink block.
- While we're doing that, we're going to grind down these biscuits to become noodles.
- But since this clinker is so hard to grind down, they just considered it waste.
- It can be cut, bent, shaved, you know, ground down and shaped to be very custom.
- And I've had to have this set here replaced and ground down because they were just in horrific state.
- I have seen things in my life that have broken me if spirit have ground me down to the floor.
- Well, not no thanks to the universe where the laws of physics and and biology try to grind us down.
- That's right, you can grind down sunflower seeds and make something that they sell in the store called sun butter.
Examples
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The rest of the Filipinos went about their daily lives, unmindful of the national situation, out of indifference or fear, or because they were simply ground down by poverty.
Academic text (2006) -
Over the years, the relentless waves have grind down the rocks on the shore into smooth pebbles.
-
They've really ground you down.
-
I worked and worked and ground myself down to a nub.
Blog text (26) -
Believe me, as a client, I neither wanted "justice" nor, as I observed the system grinding me down, did I always get it.
Blog text (19) -
We should recognize, furthermore, that for 1,000 years they have had an authoritarian government that has been ground down, enforced by 50 years of communism.
Academic text (1994) -
If we were to judge by our literature, America was a land of unfulfilled promises, of droopy alcoholic ex-prom queens, and of workers ground down by the relentlessness of the capitalist machine.
Academic text (2008) -
The constant stress of her job began to grind down her motivation to work each day.
-
He was so exhausted after working long hours that he felt completely grind down.
Synonyms
193
2.4
To crush something into powder by rubbing or pressing
98
3.7
To make land or a building flat with the ground
93
1.2
To rub material off a surface with something hard or sharp
86
2.6
Make something flat and smooth by pressing it
37
2.3
Rub food on a rough surface to make small pieces
34
3.5
To rub a surface with sandpaper to make it smooth
14
3.4
To become flat and smooth after being uneven
8
7.4
To crush something into a fine powder
5
8.1
The surface wears away when something rubs or scrapes it
3
4.7
To remove the top layer of something by rubbing it with sandpaper
3
3.8
To make something less rough by pressing it flat or by calming people
1
4.4
To make a surface smooth by moving something over it
1
4.9
To make a rough edge smooth by rubbing it with sandpaper
1
4.3
To make a surface flat and even by rubbing or polishing
1
9.9
Change something into very small pieces by pounding, crushing, or grinding
1
8.0
To level a floor or concrete with a long straight tool so it is flat
1
6.7
Wear away skin or material by rubbing
1
9.9
Wear away the surface of something by rubbing or scraping
1
6.0
To grind something again to make it sharp or change its shape
To wear away a surface slowly by rubbing
To wear a surface down by rubbing
Antonyms
How Worn
Surface Forms
Morphology
grind + down
The core meaning follows directly from 'grind' (to rub/abrade or wear away) plus 'down' (toward reduction or completion), so the literal sense 'make a surface smooth by abrasion' is transparent. The figurative sense 'gradually weaken or exhaust someone' is a clear metaphorical extension of the literal sense and is partly predictable, but the interpersonal meaning requires a metaphorical mapping that may not be fully obvious to all B1 learners.
Etymology
Grind down paints the picture of rubbing a rough edge again and again with a tool so the grit grinds it down into a smooth surface. That's why it can mean 'to make smooth' and also 'to wear someone out', since the same slow rubbing idea can remove material or strength over time.