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Definition of stiction
: the force required to cause one body in contact with another to begin to move
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stiction was our Word of the Day on 02/02/2012. Hear the podcast!
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Did You Know?
Stiction has been a part of the English language since at least 1946, when it appeared in a journal of aeronautics. The word is a combination of the st- of static ("of or relating to bodies at rest") and the -iction of friction ("the force that resists relative motion between two bodies in contact"). So, basically, it means static friction (or to put it another way, as in our second example sentence, "stationary friction").
Origin and Etymology of stiction
static + friction
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