Atrophy
['ætrəfɪ] or ['ætrəfi]
Definition
(noun.) any weakening or degeneration (especially through lack of use).
(noun.) a decrease in size of an organ caused by disease or disuse.
(verb.) undergo atrophy; 'Muscles that are not used will atrophy'.
Checked by Llewellyn--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A wasting away from want of nourishment; diminution in bulk or slow emaciation of the body or of any part.
(v. t.) To cause to waste away or become abortive; to starve or weaken.
(v. i.) To waste away; to dwindle.
Typist: Nelly
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Emaciation (from want of nourishment), consumption, marasmus, decline, gradual wasting.
Inputed by Darlene
Definition
n. an alteration of the vital processes in a living organism either animal or vegetable resulting in a diminution of size and functional activity of the whole organism (general atrophy) or of certain of its organs or tissues: emaciation.—adjs. Atroph′ic At′rophied.
Editor: Priscilla
Examples
- There was a numbness upon him, a numbness either of unborn, absent volition, or of atrophy. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- When the seeds in our fruits become atrophied, the fruit itself gains largely in size and quality. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- His conscience seemed to be atrophied, but that may be due to the fact that he was contending with men who never had any to be atrophied. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
Checked by Ives