word of the day:part seventeen | atrophy

atrophy

at·ro·phy [ˈætrəfɪ]

n. pl. at·ro·phies
1. Pathology A wasting or decrease in size of a body organ, tissue, or part owing to disease, injury, or lack of use: muscular atrophy of a person affected with paralysis.
2. A wasting away, deterioration, or diminution: intellectual atrophy.

v.tr.
To cause to wither or deteriorate; affect with atrophy.

v.intr.
To waste away; wither or deteriorate.

[Late Latin atrophia, from Greek atrophi, from atrophos, ill-nourished : a-, without; see a-1 + troph, food.]

a·trophic (-trfk) | adj.
at·ro·phied, at·ro·phy·ing, at·ro·phies | v.