chipping

VERB

knock a piece out of

Synonyms

STRONGEST

chop crack hack nick splinter whack

STRONG

break chisel clip crumble damage flake fragment gash hackle hew incise notch shape shear slash slice sliver snick snip split whittle

WEAK

crack off cut away cut off

Antonyms

STRONGEST

fix mend

STRONG

build combine increase join put together

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Instead, it was just a steady stream of corporate and economic headlines chipping away at risk appetite, forcing both speculators and value investors to second-guess everything they thought they knew.

From MarketWatch

Europe has already begun chipping away at its reliance on US tech.

From Barron's

For decades, Greenland quietly incubated one of the last of the anticolonial movements chipping away at an old European empire.

From The Wall Street Journal

And what would be the consequences of chipping away at Fed independence?

From Salon

Experts advise removing and properly disposing of heavily infested trees, which entails chipping them.

From Los Angeles Times