atrophy
Americannoun
-
atrophies
plural
-
Pathology. Also atrophia 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)
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atrophies,
present (3rd person singular)
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atrophied,
past participle, past
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atrophying
present participle
noun
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a wasting away of an organ or part, or a failure to grow to normal size as the result of disease, faulty nutrition, etc
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any degeneration or diminution, esp through lack of use
verb
Discover More
The term is also used in a more general way to refer to a wasting process: “Since he stopped playing, his piano skills have atrophied.”
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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atrophysimple
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atrophiessimple
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have atrophiedperfect
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has atrophiedperfect
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am atrophyingprogressive
-
are atrophyingprogressive
-
is atrophyingprogressive
-
have been atrophyingperfect progressive
-
has been atrophyingperfect progressive
Past
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atrophiedsimple
-
had atrophiedperfect
-
was atrophyingprogressive
-
were atrophyingprogressive
-
had been atrophyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of atrophy
First recorded in 1590–1600; earlier atrophie, from Middle French, from Late Latin atrophia, from Greek, from átroph(os) “not fed, unnourished” (from a- a- 6 + troph(ḗ) “nourishment” + -os, adjective suffix; see tropho-) + -ia -ia
Explanation
Wearing a cast on a broken leg can cause atrophy, or withering, in the leg, because it is immobilized and gets no exercise. Appearing in English in the 17th century, the word atrophy originally described a lack of nourishment. Atrophy occurs in parts of the body that can't move or be "fed" because of disease or injury. It also is used to describe things that go dull through lack of use, like skills in sports or artistic creativity. The (unrelated) word "trophy" refers to something that sits on a shelf and is admired, while atrophy is a condition of being "shelved," or made inactive and lifeless.
Vocabulary lists containing atrophy
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That limitation has made it much harder to study serious diseases involving the brain stem, including spinal muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
One reason employers are hesitant to hire those who have been out of the workforce for a prolonged period of time is that they believe skills atrophy.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Regeneron has been developing a pipeline of muscle-preservation drugs that block the body’s natural atrophy systems.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Human brains function on a pretty strict use-it-or-lose-it policy: When they’re not engaged, they start to atrophy.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026
He massaged Shin’s arms and legs so that his muscles would not atrophy.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
Like any skill, it atrophies when we outsource the work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
"When you get machines thinking for you, your brain just atrophies."
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2025
As we age, our brain gradually atrophies, losing nerve cells and connections and this can lead to a decline in brain function.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 6, 2024
If astrophysicists don’t take big, new and different swings at dark matter, the search will only stagnate until it atrophies.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 5, 2023
For just as the thymus involutes at the second year, the pineal atrophies before the onset of adolescence.
From The Glands Regulating Personality by Louis Berman M.D.
When we met him, he meandered across the field, atrophied by lack of exercise, sat on my foot and looked up with a hopeful demeanor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
Any principles beyond those have atrophied into invisibility.
From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2025
Those muscles atrophied, leaving a huge opportunity for someone like Matt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2025
Social skills and conversational ease have stiffened and atrophied.
From New York Times ● May 14, 2024
I never learned any prayers, so I wander away into the fields, beyond the gates and watchtowers, as far from the barracks and bodies as my atrophied muscles will carry me.
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
But the Mayor’s Fund had been atrophying for years, with its donations shrinking to a fraction of what it raised under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
After exhausting holistic options, he saw a doctor who said one of his vocal cords was atrophying.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 23, 2024
"After two years, part of my brain was atrophying," one said.
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2024
The work the body does against gravity to stay upright and move around keeps muscles from atrophying and stimulates bone growth.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 19, 2023
Over the weeks that followed he languished in the hospital, arms curled grotesquely at his sides, muscles atrophying, his weight dropping below 80 pounds.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
