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消耗戦 (shoumousen) Japanese meaning: war of attrition | Kotomora
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Both armies fell into a war of attrition, and the front lines did not move for months.
Price competition tends to become a war of attrition, squeezing profits.
Kanji 消 extinguish, blow out, turn off Related words 持じ 久きゅう 戦せん 持久戦 emphasizes endurance and outlasting the opponent, while 消耗戦 focuses on mutual resource depletion.
総そう 力りょく 戦せん 総力戦 is total war involving all national resources, whereas 消耗戦 is specifically about wearing down the enemy through sustained losses.
Etymology Compound of 消耗 (consumption, exhaustion) and 戦 (war, battle). The term is a direct calque of the English 'war of attrition' or similar Western military concepts, entering Japanese in the modern era.
