phrasal verbphr vEFFECTIVEto gradually make something less effective or destroy it 〔逐步〕削弱;〔不断〕损害
Writers such as Voltaire and Diderot were chipping away at the foundations of society.
像伏尔泰和狄德罗这样的作家在一点一滴地动摇社会的根基。
Fears about the future chipped away at her sense of well-being.
对未来的担忧慢慢地淡化了她的幸福感。
Examples from the Corpus
chip away at • From the breakersbeyond, nightmarethoughtschipped away at her security.• The dismantling began on the night of November 9 as hundreds of Berliners chipped away at some of the more decorativechunks.• Oystercatchers may wedge the shells into a crevice and chip away at the lip.• The best rewritingmethod in this case is the simplest: by correcting one problem you chip away at the others.• Meanwhile, his defenselawyerschipped away at the prosecution's arguments.• In like manner, but without the risk, Bloomsbury chipped away at the standards inherited from Victorians.• In therapy, we chip away at this, bit by bit.• For several weeks now he had been chipping away at this problem of finding Elsie, slowly nagging it into submission.