atrophied
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of atrophied
Explanation
Describe something as atrophied if it's shrunken or made smaller and weaker because of illness. If you've ever had a broken arm, you know that after months inside a cast your muscles become somewhat atrophied. Medically, when a body part is atrophied, it's started to waste away. Arms and legs can become atrophied from injury or disuse, and even internal organs can be atrophied when they're affected by disease. People who don't have enough food to eat eventually develop atrophied bodies, diminished by lack of nutrition. The Greek root is atrophia, "a wasting away," from a, "not," and trophe, "nourishment."
Vocabulary lists containing atrophied
A Wrinkle in Time
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As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
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Swann's Way
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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.
“We think there’s a multidecade need to rebuild some of that capability that has just atrophied over the years,” Fujiyama said, citing a near-term dearth of munitions and hypersonic weapons in particular.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
John’s left arm had atrophied, his hand now basically a claw, and two of his fingers were numb.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Our democratic muscles have atrophied, and I hope they can be reinvigorated before it's too late.
From Salon ● May 5, 2025
Social skills and conversational ease have stiffened and atrophied.
From New York Times ● May 14, 2024
“Like any other appendage,” the captain tells me, “it has atrophied from lack of use.”
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
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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.
