as in to deteriorate
to become worse or of less value
in the years following the closing of the last textile mill, the town atrophied
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in degeneration
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of atrophy
Doug McIntyre, Oc Register, 31 Aug. 2025
The brain injury caused cerebral atrophy and a glial scar, which led to the boy's brain being significantly undeveloped, according to court documents.
—Arkansas Online, 25 Aug. 2025
Chris Lehmann, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
At the same time, the Nation’s nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure has severely atrophied, leaving the United States heavily dependent on foreign sources of uranium as well as uranium enrichment and conversion services.
—Washington Examiner Staff, The Washington Examiner, 12 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for atrophy
Verb
If it’s not exercised, left to right, top to bottom, atrophy sets in.
—Doug McIntyre, Oc Register, 31 Aug. 2025
The brain injury caused cerebral atrophy and a glial scar, which led to the boy's brain being significantly undeveloped, according to court documents.
—Arkansas Online, 25 Aug. 2025
Noun
That episode drives home how deeply the oversight capacities of the American system have atrophied in its wake.
—Chris Lehmann, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
At the same time, the Nation’s nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure has severely atrophied, leaving the United States heavily dependent on foreign sources of uranium as well as uranium enrichment and conversion services.
—Washington Examiner Staff, The Washington Examiner, 12 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for atrophy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for atrophy
Verb
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In San Francisco, a development called Hunters View built in 1956 to provide temporary workforce housing was still inhabited and badly deteriorating by the early 2000s.—
Jeffrey Steele,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
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But the relations have deteriorated significantly since the start of the war in Gaza, with Israeli officials voicing growing anger at Qatar, accusing the government of harboring Hamas and not putting enough pressure on it to agree to a ceasefire.—
Oren Liebermann,
CNN Money,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, a brain disorder caused by degeneration of the brain's frontal lobe, comes nearly a year after Willis' family confirmed the movie icon, now 67, was stepping away from acting due to an aphasia diagnosis.—
Edward Segarra,
USA Today,
28 Aug. 2025
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And their medial knee cartilage showed less worsening, suggesting slower cartilage degeneration.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
12 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Ross, one of the Democrats to decline AIPAC money, is a relative centrist, according to a GovTrack scorecard, while Foushee and McGarvey, Kentucky’s only House Democrat, are in the middle of the pack ideologically.—
David Sivak,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Sep. 2025
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That has declined over the years because of budget constraints.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Initial jobless claims indicate only a minimal pickup in layoffs and/or deterioration in labor conditions at present, a positive dynamic.—
Jeffrey Schulze,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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The largest member of the grass family, bamboo is combustible, susceptible to deterioration and weaker in rain, raising legitimate questions about its durability, Arup’s Ho said.—
Karina Tsui,
CNN Money,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Anger has been brewing in the Himalayan nation for years about the country’s worsening youth unemployment and lack of economic opportunities, exacerbated by what many view as a growing disparity between the country’s elite and regular people.—
Sugam Pokharel,
CNN Money,
12 Sep. 2025
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Pink Light takes the inspiring sports drama genre, where athletes have to overcome obstacles in their sport and personal lives, in a new direction as Browne tackles the worsening debate around trans athletes in the media and political spaces.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Exposure to warm, humid air and bugs in the outdoors will speed up the decay even more.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
7 Sep. 2025
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The quest has led us down many theoretically interesting avenues, spawning ideas like extra dimensions, supersymmetry, proton decay, string theory, and many others.—
Ethan Siegel,
Big Think,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That this team won’t crumble in the face of adversity.—
Zack Rosenblatt,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
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Decades of underinvestment have left the country with congested highways, crumbling bridges, crowded airports — and a disjointed passenger rail network that is underfunded and unreliable.—
Ben Jones,
CNN Money,
8 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Those trades were made ahead of Friday’s big jobs report for August, which showed the labor market weakening.—
Sarah Min,
CNBC,
8 Sep. 2025
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Within 24 hours, the storm was expected to begin a slow weakening.—
Jeanine Santucci,
USA Today,
5 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Atrophy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/atrophy. Accessed 14 Sep. 2025.
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