atrophy
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from French atrophie, from Latin atrophia, from Ancient Greek ἀτροφία (atrophía, “a wasting away”), from ἄτροφος (átrophos, “ill-fed, un-nourished”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + τροφή (trophḗ, “nourishment”), from τρέφω (tréphō, “I fatten”). Equivalent to a- + -trophy.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈæt.ɹə.fi/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
atrophy (countable and uncountable, plural atrophies)
- (pathology) A reduction in the functionality of an organ caused by disease, injury or lack of use. [from early 17th c.]
Derived terms
Translations
reduced functionality
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Verb
atrophy (third-person singular simple present atrophies, present participle atrophying, simple past and past participle atrophied)
- (intransitive) To wither or waste away. [from early 18th c.]
- 1987 June 13, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic):
- Boy. I love summer vacation. I can feel my brain beginning to atrophy already.
- 2013 October 13, Ellen Barry, “The Russia Left Behind: A journey through a heartland on the slow road to ruin”, in The New York Times[1]:
- The M10 highway looks normal enough at the southern limits of St. Petersburg, but then, with a jolt, it begins to atrophy. For the next 430 miles the surface of the highway, while paved, varies from corduroy to jaw-rattling patchwork.
- (transitive) To cause to waste away or become abortive; to starve or weaken.
Antonyms
Translations
(intransitive) wither or waste away
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(transitive) cause to waste away
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See also
Further reading
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms prefixed with a-
- English terms suffixed with -trophy
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- English lemmas
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- en:Pathology
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