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atrophy

[a-truh-fee] / ˈæ trə fi /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Arvinas is pursuing two candidates for Parkinson’s disease and for spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy, a rare disorder that leads to progressive muscle weakness and wasting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Jane Campbell, a peer in the House of Lords upper chamber, struggles to speak naturally due to spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that worsens over time.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

One reason employers are hesitant to hire those who have been out of the workforce for a prolonged period of time is that they believe skills atrophy.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

"We found there was less brain atrophy and less tau accumulation, which was very exciting to see."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026

When parts of the body aren’t used, they tend to weaken, or shrink, or atrophy.

From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins

Like any skill, it atrophies when we outsource the work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026

"When you get machines thinking for you, your brain just atrophies."

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2025

As we age, our brain gradually atrophies, losing nerve cells and connections and this can lead to a decline in brain function.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 6, 2024

If astrophysicists don’t take big, new and different swings at dark matter, the search will only stagnate until it atrophies.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 5, 2023

For just as the thymus involutes at the second year, the pineal atrophies before the onset of adolescence.

From The Glands Regulating Personality by Louis Berman M.D.

The house was a metaphor for the coldness of a relationship that’s faded and atrophied.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

Today, the Pentagon is grappling with America’s atrophied industrial base while racing to adopt AI technologies that private companies have already woven into their systems—like the frozen-dessert management system Kain stumbled on.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

The pandemic, for all its lessons, quietly atrophied some of our neighboring muscles, and many of us are still figuring out how to use them again.

From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2026

Social skills and conversational ease have stiffened and atrophied.

From New York Times ● May 14, 2024

His senses must have been blunted and atrophied with money and the getting of it.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

But the Mayor’s Fund had been atrophying for years, with its donations shrinking to a fraction of what it raised under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

After exhausting holistic options, he saw a doctor who said one of his vocal cords was atrophying.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 23, 2024

Revenue fell 4 percent, largely because of the company’s atrophying cable television business, which includes CNN.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2024

"After two years, part of my brain was atrophying," one said.

From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2024

Over the weeks that followed he languished in the hospital, arms curled grotesquely at his sides, muscles atrophying, his weight dropping below 80 pounds.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer


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