atony
Americannoun
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Pathology. lack of tone or energy; muscular weakness, especially in a contractile organ.
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Phonetics. lack of stress accent.
noun
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pathol lack of normal tone or tension, as in muscles; abnormal relaxation of a muscle
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phonetics lack of stress or accent on a syllable or word
Etymology
Origin of atony
1685–95; < Late Latin atonia < Greek, derivative of átonos unaccented, languid, literally, toneless. See a- 6, tone
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.
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 Jamison, Alcinous B. (Alcinous Burton)
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 Cannan, Gilbert
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
Count Monte-Leone alone seemed master of himself, and sought to cure the general atony in which even Maulear was involved.
From The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 4, March, 1851 by Various
Sufferers from chronic constipation receive assurances that by the use of these "remedies" the anemia will be corrected, nutrition and digestion restored, atony of the liver and intestines overcome, yellow complexion and morbid feeling disappear.
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 Jamison, Alcinous B. (Alcinous Burton)
Definitions 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.
