war of attrition

war of attrition (plural wars of attrition)

1. (military) A prolonged war in which the warring sides try to defeat their opponents by wearing them out.
   • 2021, Gerald Casale, Josh Freese, Josh Hager, Steve Bartek (lyrics and music), “I'm Gonna Pay U Back”, in I'm Gonna Pay U Back, performed by DEVO's Gerald V. Casale:

     A bullet for your war of attrition
     And your exploitation of the human condition

   • 2021 December 6, Michael Schwirtz, “On Ukrainian Front, Grinding War and Weary Anticipation of Invasion”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     So far, soldiers on the front lines said they had seen little evidence of escalation beyond this largely slow-moving war of attrition.

2. (figuratively) A situation in which opponents try to overcome each other by wearing them out.

• Pyrrhic victory

• “war of attrition”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “war of attrition”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• attrition warfare on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• War of Attrition on Wikipedia.Wikipedia