atrophy
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atrophy
- /ˈæt.ɹə.fi/ Australia, Canada, US, UK
- /ˈɛt.ɹə.fi/ New Zealand
Where it comes from
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, “to fatten”). Equivalent to a- + -trophy.
noun atrophies
- A reduction in the functionality of an organ caused by disease, injury or lack of use. Now that chatbots are going the way of Google—moving from the miraculous to the taken-for-granted—the anxiety has shifted, too, from apocalypse to atrophy. Teachers, especially, say they’re beginning to see the rot. The term for it is unlovely but not inapt: de-skilling.
verb atrophies · atrophying · atrophied
- To wither or waste away. Boy. I love summer vacation. I can feel my brain beginning to atrophy already.
- To cause to waste away or become abortive; to starve or weaken. Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion
