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noun

abrasive

a substance that abrades or wears down

In a sentence

Six example sentences with abrasive, each labelled with its topic.

  • The restorer chose the gentlest abrasive available, since anything coarser would lift the varnish and the paint beneath it.

    Art

  • Polishing a lens begins with a coarse abrasive and ends with a powder finer than flour, applied in water.

    Technology

  • Never scrub a seasoned pan with an abrasive; the black layer you spent months building disappears in one wash.

    Cooking

  • Restorers cleaned the limestone facade with a soft abrasive blown at low pressure, so the carved letters kept their edges.

    Architecture

  • Any mineral can serve as an abrasive against a softer one, which is why diamond dust cuts every other stone.

    Science

  • Egyptian craftsmen used quartz sand as an abrasive, dragging it under copper saws to slice through granite blocks.

    History

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Found in these word lists

Found in 3 published word listsRecognized

Each source is a published word list that contains abrasive. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.