atrophy
/ˈæt.ɹə.fi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.97 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Now that chatbots are going the way of Google—moving from the miraculous to the taken-for-granted—the anxiety has shifted, too, from apocalypse to atrophy. Teachers, especially, say they’re beginning to see the rot. The term for it is unlovely but not inapt: de-skilling."
- "Boy. I love summer vacation. I can feel my brain beginning to atrophy already."
- "The M10 highway looks normal enough at the southern limits of St. Petersburg, but then, with a jolt, it begins to atrophy. For the next 430 miles the surface of the highway, while paved, varies from corduroy to jaw-rattling patchwork."
- "Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion"
Etymology
Borrowed from French atrophie, from Latin atrophia, from Ancient Greek ἀτροφία (atrophía, “a wasting away”), from ἄτροφος (átrophos, “ill-fed, un-nourished”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + τροφή (trophḗ, “nourishment”), from τρέφω (tréphō, “to fatten”). Equivalent to a- + -trophy.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈæt.ɹə.fi/
- British English: /ˈæt.ɹə.fi/