I. ̷ ̷ˈ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷fē noun
Etymology: probably from New Latin hypertrophia, from hyper- + -trophia -trophy
1. : overgrowth or excessive development of an organ or part (as that resulting from unusually steady or severe use or in compensation for an organic deficiency) ; specifically : increase in bulk without increase in the number of constituent elements that is produced by thickening of the muscle fibers
cardiac hypertrophy
— compare hyperplasia , hypotrophy
2. : exaggerated growth in size or complexity : excessive enlargement
economic concentration increasing at a parallel rate with business hypertrophy — Paul Johnson
a certain hypertrophy in the contrapuntal writing making for very complicated listening — K.H.Wörner
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
transitive verb
: to affect with hypertrophy
intransitive verb
: to increase or grow in size beyond the normal
a healthy kidney hypertrophies when the other fails
orthodoxies hypertrophy as inspiration declines