Definition

1. 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

1. rule a country as a tyrant