atrophy
Americannoun
-
atrophies
plural
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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
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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:
But the deeper failure isn’t land management alone—it’s an aviation fleet the federal government has let atrophy for decades and never rebuilt to match the threat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 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
Apitegromab works by blocking a protein involved in the breakdown of muscle and is also being explored as a treatment for other medical conditions affecting muscles, including spinal muscular atrophy.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
In Asia, Hegseth reiterated that the region's security had "rested disproportionately on American military power, while many of our allies and partners allowed their own defence capabilities to atrophy".
From Barron's ● May 30, 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
NBCUniversal is cutting “Access Hollywood” and several other of its daytime talk shows, effectively ending its first run syndication business as daytime television atrophies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 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
Even when absorbed into the tissues in minute doses it corrodes the brain and atrophies the intellect.
From The Bartlett Mystery by Louis Tracy
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
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
Social skills and conversational ease have stiffened and atrophied.
From New York Times ● May 14, 2024
But polio had left Ali with a twisted, atrophied right leg that was sallow skin over bone with little in between except a paper-thin layer of muscle.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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
Revenue fell 4 percent, largely because of the company’s atrophying cable television business, which includes CNN.
From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
"After two years, part of my brain was atrophying," one said.
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2024
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
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.
