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attrition rate

attrition rate

2 6.0
The number of people who leave or die from a group over time
  • noun
  • /əˈtrɪʃən reɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : tasa de desgaste
  • After analyzing the data, they discovered that the attrition rate for students in the program had risen significantly over the last year.
  • high attrition rate
  • low attrition rate
  • student attrition rate

It's, it's one of the hardest courses to pass with one of the highest attrition rates of people who go on the course and then fail it.

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Examples

  • If new teachers can develop positive relationships within the community, attrition rates will decrease.

    Academic text (2003)
  • The disparity in attrition rates is even higher among beginning teachers.

    Academic text (2013)
  • It's just a matter of what the attrition rate will be.

  • Other studies have identified higher attrition rates at larger firms.

    Academic text (2005)
  • For female lawyers and lawyers of color, attrition rates are even higher.

    Academic text (2001)
  • An early entrance program for gifted females reported an attrition rate of 30% in the first year of the program.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The rate at which teachers leave their profession far exceeds the attrition rate in private industry.

    Academic text (2003)
  • The NALP study puts the associate attrition rate at 60 percent.

    Academic text (2001)
  • The highest attrition rates generally occurred at firms with between 251 and 500 attorneys.

    Academic text (2005)
  • The overall student attrition rate during the 2 years of the WebIT-1 cohort was 56%.

    Academic text (2015)

Synonyms

turnover
vsattrition rate
  • Specialized
40 4.2

The rate at which employees leave and are replaced in a company

measures member decrease even when replacements do not happen
turnover rate
vsattrition rate
  • Specialized
5 4.0

How quickly workers leave a company and new workers replace them

counts decline without assuming replacements occur
churn
vsattrition rate
  • Specialized
3 5.1

The rate at which people stop using a product or service

focuses on losses from leaving, retirement, or death in a group
employee turnover
vsattrition rate
1 3.3

How quickly workers leave a company and new ones replace them

records loss of members that may not be replaced
rate of attrition
vsattrition rate
1 6.7

How quickly the size of a group becomes smaller over time

specifies losses due to leaving, retirement, or death

Antonyms

48 2.7

How fast something grows over a period of time

How Fast

collapse
350 4.1
exodus
45 7.2
attrition rate
  • Specialized
2 6.0
turnover
  • Specialized
40 4.2
stability
363 3.1

Surface Forms

Morphology

attrition + rate

Both constituents contribute directly: 'attrition' denotes a gradual loss or decrease and 'rate' denotes an amount or speed per unit time, so 'attrition rate' straightforwardly means the speed/amount of that loss. This follows a common 'X rate' compositional pattern found across languages and standard English nominal compounding, making the meaning predictable for learners who know both words.

Etymology

Attrition rate comes from an old image of things slowly wearing away; attrition means a slow rubbing or wearing down and rate means how fast that happens. So the phrase makes you picture a group losing members bit by bit, and that's why it means 'the speed at which people leave'.