atrophy

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

at·ro·phy [atrophy atrophies atrophied atrophying] noun, verb BrE [ˈætrəfi] NAmE [ˈætrəfi]
noun uncountable (medical)
the condition of losing flesh, muscle, strength, etc. in a part of the body because it does not have enough blood: (figurative, formal)The cultural life of the country will sink into atrophy unless more writers and artists emerge.

Word Origin:
late 16th cent.: from French atrophier (verb), atrophie (noun), from late Latin atrophia, from Greek, ‘lack of food’, from a- ‘without’ + trophē ‘food’.
Derived Word: ↑atrophied
 
verb (at·ro·phies, at·ro·phy·ing, at·ro·phied, at·ro·phied)intransitive
if a part of the body atrophies, it becomes weak because it is not used or because it does not have enough blood: (figurative)Memory can atrophy through lack of use.
Verb forms:

Word Origin:
late 16th cent.: from French atrophier (verb), atrophie (noun), from late Latin atrophia, from Greek, ‘lack of food’, from a- ‘without’ + trophē ‘food’.
 

• Từ đồng nghĩa / Synonyms:
  withering, wasting, wasting away