Meaning & use

friction

noun·Academic

The resistance one surface or object encounters when moving against another, or tension between people.

See it in a sentence

Friction between the tires and the wet road made the car harder to control.

Growing friction between the two business partners eventually led to the company's split.

A note on using this word

Friction has both a literal physics sense involving surfaces and a figurative sense describing disagreement or tension between people.

Words with a similar meaning

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Words with an opposite meaning

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