noun / verb
atrophy
AT-ruh-fee/ˈætrʌfi/
Gradual weakening or wasting away through disuse or disease.
The unused muscle begins to atrophy.
Etymology
The pieces express a lack of nourishment, which explains the original sense of wasting away. The verb extends this idea of dwindling strength or substance to weakening through lack of use.
In context
fully innervated non-paralyzed muscles also, um, rapidly atrophy. So these are muscles that are fully functional, are being used, and those are still wasting away.
More examples
- Doctors monitor the gradual atrophy in his injured leg.
- Skills can atrophy when they are never practiced.
- The long period of inactivity left parts of the organization atrophied.
Forms
atrophy · atrophies · atrophied · atrophying
Similar words
- waste away
- Directly describes becoming weaker or thinner over time.
- degenerate
- Degenerate worsens in structure or quality; atrophy especially involves wasting or weakening from disuse or disease.