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atrophy
[ a-truh-fee ]
noun
- Also a·tro·phi·a [] Pathology. a wasting away of the body or of an organ or part, as from defective nutrition or nerve damage.
- degeneration, decline, or decrease, as from disuse:
He argued that there was a progressive atrophy of freedom and independence of thought.
verb (used with or without object)
- to affect with or undergo atrophy.
atrophy
/ ˈætrəfɪ; əˈtrɒfɪk /
noun
- a wasting away of an organ or part, or a failure to grow to normal size as the result of disease, faulty nutrition, etc
- any degeneration or diminution, esp through lack of use
verb
- to waste away or cause to waste away
atrophy
/ ăt′rə-fē /
- A wasting or decrease in the size of an organ or tissue, as from death and reabsorption of cells, diminished proliferation of cells, pressure, lack of oxygen, malnutrition, decreased function, or hormonal changes.
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Notes
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Derived Forms
- atrophic, adjective
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Other Words From
- a·troph·ic [uh, -, trof, -ik, uh, -, troh, -fik], adjective
- nona·trophic adjective
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of atrophy1
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Example Sentences
If pilots are not flying, their skills atrophy and that could put their lives in danger.
Still, the atrophy continued, as did the collapse of Vatican-backed dictatorships in Portugal, Spain and Latin America.
He was born with spinal muscular atrophy, which kills 50 percent of the babies diagnosed with it before the age of 2.
Five-month-old Avery Lynn Canahuati died Monday of complications from spinal muscular atrophy.
It hinders the immune system, causes insomnia, and speeds the atrophy of the brain, to name a few.
But a prolonged use of the visual mechanism tends to hypertrophy—or atrophy, as the eyes of deep-sea fishes show.
And to one of his class, there are many forces ever present to atrophy such simple, wholesome power of loving.
We may therefore conclude that its atrophy, like its development, takes place from before backwards.
In stage L it is still fairly large in the tail, though it has begun to atrophy anteriorly.
It is less developed than before, but is still present up to the period of the atrophy of the head-kidney.
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