muscular dystrophy

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. a hereditary disease characterized by gradual wasting of the muscles with replacement by scar tissue and fat, sometimes also affecting the heart.

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muscular dystrophy British  

noun

1. a genetic disease characterized by progressive deterioration and wasting of muscle fibres, causing difficulty in walking

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muscular dystrophy Scientific  

/ mŭs′kyə-lərdĭs′trə-fē /

1. Any of a group of inherited progressive muscle disorders caused by a defect in one or more genes that control muscle function and characterized by gradual irreversible wasting of skeletal muscle.

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muscular dystrophy Cultural  

1. A hereditary disease in which the muscles progressively waste away. The disease can be potentially treated through gene therapy.

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Etymology

Origin of muscular dystrophy

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

muscular dystrophy

A really wonderful guy, sort of a self-advocate and kind of a grump, total badass activist who has muscular dystrophy and has a tracheotomy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Mourkioti and her colleagues are now studying whether this unusual use of TRF2 could lead to new therapeutic approaches for muscular dystrophy.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 2, 2026

Meanwhile, the agency last summer scuttled Capricor’s treatment for patients with advanced Duchenne muscular dystrophy because it claimed its randomized control trial for patients was too small to determine definitively that the treatment worked.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Sarcopenia is a form of muscular dystrophy associated with aging and is a popular condition for biotech companies that harbor greater goals of reversing or slowing aging to target.

From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2026

There were tiny babies with club feet, children who had paralyzed limbs from polio, adolescents dying from muscular dystrophy.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall