How to Use atrophy in a Sentence

atrophy

noun
Definition of atrophynext
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  • The doctor is concerned about possible atrophy of the shoulder muscles.
  • And without a rich street life, the public spaces of a city atrophy.
    — Michael J. Lewis, National Review, 3 Sep. 2020
  • The disease causes parts of the lobes to atrophy, causing changes in these areas.
    — Rebecca Aizin, Peoplemag, 17 Feb. 2023
  • This can lead to vaginal atrophy, where the vaginal walls become dry and thin.
    — Emily Lincke, Houston Chronicle, 31 Oct. 2017
  • There’s a big win in the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy.
    — Kelly Servick, Science | AAAS, 4 Feb. 2020
  • Her son, Malachi, was born with the most severe form of spinal muscular atrophy.
    — Damian Garde, Scientific American, 4 June 2019
  • Sometimes the muscles near their jaw atrophy, or thin out.
    — Dawn Filos, Philly.com, 15 Dec. 2017
  • The future that these years of atrophy and anomie and enmity teased at arrived all at once.
    — David Roth, The New Republic, 11 June 2020
  • Skin atrophy is one of the most common side effects of topical steroid overuse.
    — Verywell Health, 24 Jan. 2023
  • Expect the living witness of their faith to atrophy and wither because of it.
    — Cameron Hilditch, National Review, 4 Sep. 2020
  • And that, in combination with the war on terror, has led to an atrophy in Congress’s oversight role on the issue of war.
    — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 4 Jan. 2020
  • Even today schools in some countries, such as the Philippines, remain shut to most pupils, leaving their minds to atrophy.
    — James Freeman, WSJ, 11 July 2022
  • Muscle weakness and atrophy are common, and pain can be a real problem in many forms of CMT.
    — Dr. Keith Roach, oregonlive, 1 June 2022
  • But then their lifeline — the highway — began to atrophy.
    — Washington Post, 17 Mar. 2022
  • Most of that sales growth came from Spinraza, a treatment for spinal muscular atrophy that launched last year.
    — Charley Grant, WSJ, 24 Apr. 2018
  • And that memory loss and brain atrophy are not inevitable?
    — Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, 5 Jan. 2021
  • In addition, the lack of sensory input from the ear may hasten rates of brain atrophy.
    — Stacey Burling, chicagotribune.com, 21 Oct. 2019
  • That’s helpful, because the diaphragm can atrophy quickly if the muscle isn’t used.
    — Julie Washington, cleveland, 25 July 2023
  • The result has been widespread atrophy in this society of refugees.
    — Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Sep. 2023
  • The medicine helps children with spinal muscular atrophy live a normal life.
    — New York Times, 24 Jan. 2023
  • With this much Netflix, the danger of muscle atrophy is real.
    — Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 24 Mar. 2022
  • Detroit was far from the only city where the latest census showed a populace in atrophy.
    — New York Times, 28 Aug. 2021
  • Yet many of the systems meant to help children in crisis have been left to atrophy, and in some cases have been dismantled since the Great Recession.
    — Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 30 Nov. 2023
  • The atrophy was more pronounced in the artistic group than in those without artistic tendencies.
    — Robert Martone, Scientific American, 26 May 2023
  • Because his right foot was immobilized for so long, there was atrophy in the right calf muscle.
    — Rick Stroud, orlandosentinel.com, 19 Oct. 2021
  • The financial crisis and the pandemic showed the atrophy of our systems of protection and trust.
    — New York Times, 2 June 2022
  • Affecting more than 1 in 9 U.S. adults 65 and older, Alzheimer’s results from brain atrophy with the death of neurons and loss of the connections between them.
    — Kristine Zengeler, Discover Magazine, 10 Dec. 2022
  • Olson says that the root of many neuropsychiatric conditions is the atrophy of neurons in the pre-frontal cortex.
    — Will Yakowicz, Forbes, 1 Oct. 2021
  • But the straight-A Tipton student, who has spinal muscular atrophy, is his own spokesperson.
    — Kayla Dwyer, The Indianapolis Star, 23 Jan. 2024
  • At Columbia, Nunes helped rebuild the School of the Arts after the university had allowed it to atrophy.
    — Steven Litt, cleveland, 26 June 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'atrophy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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