atony

American  

[at-n-ee] / ˈæt n i /

Also atonia

noun

1. Pathology. lack of tone or energy; muscular weakness, especially in a contractile organ.

2. Phonetics. lack of stress accent.

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atony British  

/ ˈætənɪ /

noun

1. pathol lack of normal tone or tension, as in muscles; abnormal relaxation of a muscle

2. phonetics lack of stress or accent on a syllable or word

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Etymology

Origin of atony

1685–95; < Late Latin atonia < Greek, derivative of átonos unaccented, languid, literally, toneless. See a- ⁶, tone

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

atony

He did not deny that the kind of atony to which his monotonous life subjected him, made it necessary that he should be somewhat galvanised by the excitement of travel.

From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 4, July, 1851 by Various

To overcome this "atony" of two or more feet of the lower bowel, a little "nutritious" suppository, weighing twenty grains, is a "specific."

From Intestinal Ills Chronic Constipation, Indigestion, Autogenetic Poisons, Diarrhea, Piles, Etc. Also Auto-Infection, Auto-Intoxication, Anemia, Emaciation, Etc. Due to Proctitis and Colitis by Alcinous B. (Alcinous Burton) Jamison

They advertised his articles in mysterious terms which roused curiosity: and his first effort was in fact like a stone falling into a duck-pond in the atony of the little town.

From Jean-Christophe, Volume I by Gilbert Cannan

The patient is unable to empty the bladder, and the condition of atony gets increasingly worse.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 1 "Bisharin" to "Bohea" by Various

Your disease is a deficiency of blood, a constitutional atony.

From Laboulaye's Fairy Book by Mary L. (Mary Louise) Booth