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Agitation or attrition ? there's the rub!
8 letters
?R?CTION
friction or traction

I think I would go with FRICTION, but I'm struggling to see how "attrition" fits in. I suspect compiler error!

I agree with friction. Chambers has one definition of attrition as “wearing down, as by friction”.

Mmmm - Chambers has a vivid imagination! I can see a relationship, but a causal correspondence is a bit of a stretch...

ChrisE, and Collins too? Attrition -'... the state of being worn away, as by friction'.

... and The Oxford Dictionary of English gives us a hat-trick...

I'm finding a difficulty in thinking of a context in which that works.

....attrition means "wearing away", but it doesn't imply friction.

ChrisE, I'm lost now - don't the three definitions say otherwise?

The Oxford concise dictionary gives friction as a direct definition for attrition with 'gradual wearing out'. The Latin derivations for both attrition and friction mean 'rub'. Sorry but just don't see the problem.