Attritional war out East (4)
I believe the answer is:
wear
'attritional war out east' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'war out east' is the wordplay.
'out' is an insertion indicator.
'east' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'war' going around 'e' is 'WEAR'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wear that I've seen before include "Clothes; chafe" , "Northern flower" , "display" , "Northern runner" , "Dress in; erode" .)