Agency Dictionary
Friction
nounPronunciation: /ˈfrɪk.ʃən/
In Portuguese: Atrito
DesignWhat does “Friction” mean?
Resistance encountered when two surfaces or systems interact, or operational resistance hindering user completion of an action in digital interfaces.
Etymology
From Middle French friction and directly from Latin frictio, "a rubbing, a rubbing down", a noun of the verb fricare, "to rub". Physics took it for the resistance met when one surface moves over another, and from there it came to mean disagreement between people and, in the design of products and interfaces, anything that slows a person on the way to finishing a task.
Usage note
In product design the word is usually negative (reduce friction, a frictionless checkout), although some friction is added on purpose to prevent mistakes.
Synonyms
- resistance
- rubbing
- abrasion
- drag
- conflict
- discord
Often confused with
- attrition
- Attrition is a gradual wearing down, of material or of numbers of people; friction is the resistance or the conflict itself.
Word family
- frictional
- frictionless
- fricative
Rhymes with
- fiction
- diction
- restriction
- conviction
- prediction
- addiction
- eviction
- depiction
Usage examples
At a given moment, interfaces surged to help us remove friction from human process, like weaving huge amounts of beautiful patterns into cloth.
Concept
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.
Words of the same theme
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Also from these editions: terms
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- Transcendencenoun
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