[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/erode.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / erode

[← E](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/E/)

# erode

«erode» in Mova's school dictionary: **to wear away slowly, as wind, water or ice rub away rock…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (erode, erodes, eroded, eroding); noun erosion

### meaning for a pupil

1) To erode means to wear away slowly, as wind, water or ice rub away rock and soil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/#m1)

2) To erode can mean to make something slowly weaker or smaller, like trust or confidence being eroded. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

A key geography and science word: rivers erode valleys, waves erode cliffs, rain erodes soil. In everyday talk and news it means something is getting slowly weaker. Phrases: «erode away», «be eroded by the sea», «erode trust».

### examples

- The waves erode the cliffs a little every year. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/#x1)
- Rivers erode rock and carry it downstream. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/#x2)
- Wind can erode sand dunes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/#x3)
- Trees help stop the soil from eroding. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/#x4)
- The old statue's face had eroded in the rain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/#x5)
- Telling lies can erode your friends' trust. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/#x6)
- Over thousands of years the river eroded a deep canyon. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/#x7)
- Soil erosion happens when plants are cut down. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/#x8)

### note

Regular verb: eroded, eroding. Noun: erosion. Erosion is moving bits away; weathering is breaking rock where it stands; the two often happen together. Erosion is slow, so «erode» usually suggests a long time.

### In the corpora

- [Clearing forests and ploughing can make soil erode many times faster than natural rates.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/52-weathering-and-erosion/17/)
- [Australia's Twelve Apostles are limestone stacks that are slowly collapsing as the sea erodes them.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/55-coasts-and-caves/9/)
- [The Holderness coast in Yorkshire is one of Europe's fastest-eroding coasts, losing about 1-2 metres a year.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/55-coasts-and-caves/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «erode» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/erode/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.