grind down
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- To wear down, weaken, or oppress through persistent harsh treatment or pressure: The core meaning is to reduce someone's strength, spirit, or resistance gradually and relentlessly, often through tyranny, constant demands, or difficult circumstances.
Usage
- This verb is typically used with a direct object (a person, group, or spirit). It describes a slow, draining process.
- It often appears in contexts of oppression, exhausting work, or prolonged stress.
Examples
- The cruel king sought to grind down the spirit of the rebellion through fear and intimidation.
- Years of repetitive, mind-numbing labor can grind down even the most enthusiastic worker.
- The constant financial worries were starting to grind her down.
Advanced Usage
- "to grind someone down": This is the standard phrasal verb construction, emphasizing the target of the oppressive action.
- The dictator's regime aimed to grind the population down into submission.
Variants and Related Words
- Grind (verb): To reduce to small particles by crushing; to work or study mechanically and laboriously. (e.g., , ).
- Ground down (adjective): Describing a state of being worn out or defeated by prolonged pressure.
- After a decade in that job, he felt completely ground down.
Synonyms
- Oppress: To govern or treat cruelly or unjustly.
- Wear down: To overcome or reduce through persistent pressure or friction.
- Tyrannize: To exercise absolute power, especially cruelly and oppressively.
- Crush: To defeat or subdue completely.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Grind on: To continue in a tedious, monotonous way.
- The meeting ground on for hours without a clear resolution.
- Grind out: To produce something with mechanical or laborious effort.
- He grinds out a new novel every year.
Related Idioms
- The daily grind: The monotonous routine of everyday work or life.
- He needed a vacation to escape the daily grind.
Verb
- rule a country as a tyrant