n.
Pronunciation: ' a-tr ə -f ē
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -phies
Etymology: Late Latin atrophia, from Greek, from atrophos ill fed, from a- + trephein to nourish
Date: 1601
1 : decrease in size or wasting away of a body part or tissue also : arrested development or loss of a part or organ incidental to the normal development or life of an animal or plant
2 : a wasting away or progressive decline : DEGENERATION <the atrophy of freedom> <was not a solitude of atrophy , of negation, but of perpetual flowering ― Willa Cather>
– atro · phic \ ( ˌ ) ā - ' tr ō -fik \ adjective
– atrophy \ ' a-tr ə -f ē , - ˌ f ī \ verb