0 past simple and past participle of atrophy
1 (of a part of the body) to be reduced in size and therefore strength, or, more generally, to become weaker:
Their minds and wills atrophied, and they became solely creatures of sensual instinct.
Female worms had atrophied ovaries but did not have alteration in the vitelline glands.
Daily workouts were essential, not just to limber up, but to activate muscles that atrophied from lack of use.
In contrast, production practice (with explicit information) resulted in learning that was available for use only in production and that atrophied markedly over time.
Any skills they had possessed would have atrophied from their years of involuntary inactivity.
The liberal social uplift approach atrophied under the weight of this powerful doctrine.
Their activities gradually atrophied, however, due to the changes in economic structure accompanying the tightening of the nation's seclusion.
Isolated and compelled by a religious and cultural assimilation through missionaries, these languages are becoming debilitated and atrophied.
