phrase

• A prolonged period of conflict during which each side seeks to gradually wear down the other by a series of small-scale actions.

  ‘The midfield sector at this stage of the game resembled a war of attrition with neither side gaining a stronghold.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The combat is certainly much better than it was last year, so it's a shame that some of the boss battles turn into wars of attrition with petty single-hit attacks.’
  • ‘Another heavy struggle for the clock, with one team finally imposing its will in a war of attrition, minus the stand-to and the morning hate?’
  • ‘They have no education, no job and are prepared to sacrifice their lives in a war of attrition against the US military machine.’
  • ‘In the wake of the tsunami that claimed over 250,000 lives in Aceh, the military has continued its war of attrition.’
  • ‘Neglected and drab, this once-grand Regency mansion had been the battlefield for a war of attrition between John's mother and father.’
  • ‘They will also seek to engage the New Zealand front five in a war of attrition.’
  • ‘I have put myself through a war of attrition, willing the other side to win.’
  • ‘The eight-year war of attrition which followed cost thousands of lives on both sides.’
  • ‘He planned on this kind of war of attrition from the minute he knew he was militarily finished.’