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Glite Dictionary
🪚 To smooth 🦵 To oppress
to grind down

to grind down

8.5
Make people suffer and control them by force
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡraɪnd daʊn/
translation icon : oprimir
  • You cannot let these naysayers grind you down because they really, they do not know they, they're wrong more than right.

The way that women are ground down in computing is simply unbelievable.

Examples

  • Don't let the bastards grind you down.

    Blog text (10)

  • The way that women are ground down in computing is simply unbelievable.

    Lex Fridman

  • And then as every year goes by, they are ground down to a more mediocre average.

  • Because I've been so ground down, I thought that what I needed wasn't really worth anything.

  • What Frank does brilliantly is he grinds you down and breaks you right.

  • Even without his two Pro Bowl guards grating the road for him, Martin rushed for 251 yards yesterday, and would have had more if he hadn't taken losses on the last drive of the game to grind down the clock.

    Blog text (19)

  • The corrupt leader used his power to grind down his opponents, leaving them with no voice.

  • Many workers feel that their rights are being grind down under oppressive management policies.

  • The government’s unfair laws continue to grind down the liberties of its citizens.

Synonyms

to oppress
vsto grind down
152 6.5

To treat people cruelly or unfairly using power to limit their rights

focuses more on cruel abuse through power rather than just limiting rights
to tyrannize
vsto grind down
  • US
2 8.4

To treat people in a cruel and unfair way

is the idiomatic phrasal form of the same abusive ruling action
to ride roughshod
vsto grind down
1 8.8

Treat people badly and ignore their feelings or rights

implies cruel oppressive use of power rather than mere thoughtless harshness

Antonyms

to empower
157 4.2

Give someone the power and confidence to do something

to liberate
104 4.3

Set someone free from prison or unfair control

How Oppressive

to tyrannize
  • US
2 8.4
to grind down
8.5
to oppress
152 6.5
to persecute
98 7.0
to abuse
  • NSFW
344 3.7
to mistreat
63 2.9

Surface Forms

grind down infinitive
grinding down present participle
grinds down third person singular
ground down past
ground down past participle

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 comes from the image of a mill where heavy stones grind grain into powder as they press it down. That's why the phrase means 'to treat people cruelly', because it gives the picture of someone slowly being crushed or worn away.