How to Use atrophy in a Sentence

atrophy

1 of 2 noun
  • The doctor is concerned about possible atrophy of the shoulder muscles.
  • Still, my brain won’t function and the novel’s in a state of atrophy.
    — Literary Hub, 21 Nov. 2025
  • Zavala had spinal cord atrophy since birth, per the Sentinel.
    — Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 4 Oct. 2025
  • Then the treatment for the eyebrow made my face atrophy.
    — Literary Hub, 14 Oct. 2025
  • The prize for aging is atrophy.
    — Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Nov. 2025
  • And without a rich street life, the public spaces of a city atrophy.
    — Michael J. Lewis, National Review, 3 Sep. 2020
  • This can lead to vaginal atrophy, where the vaginal walls become dry and thin.
    — Emily Lincke, Houston Chronicle, 31 Oct. 2017
  • The culture of the school started to atrophy.
    — Charlotte Alter, Time, 4 Aug. 2025
  • But that is no reason to let the questing spirit atrophy.
    — Tom Vanderbilt, Outside, 29 Dec. 2025
  • If it’s not exercised, left to right, top to bottom, atrophy sets in.
    — Doug McIntyre, Oc Register, 31 Aug. 2025
  • There’s a big win in the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy.
    — Kelly Servick, Science | AAAS, 4 Feb. 2020
  • The muscles in his arms started to atrophy from disuse.
    — Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2025
  • 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
  • The disease causes parts of the lobes to atrophy, causing changes in these areas.
    — Rebecca Aizin, Peoplemag, 17 Feb. 2023
  • Her son, Malachi, was born with the most severe form of spinal muscular atrophy.
    — Damian Garde, Scientific American, 4 June 2019
  • The medicine helps children with spinal muscular atrophy live a normal life.
    — New York Times, 24 Jan. 2023
  • Not using your muscles causes them to atrophy or shrink as the muscle fibers get smaller.
    — Alice Park, Time, 21 Apr. 2026
  • The result has been widespread atrophy in this society of refugees.
    — Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Sep. 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
  • Expect the living witness of their faith to atrophy and wither because of it.
    — Cameron Hilditch, National Review, 4 Sep. 2020
  • The specific area that cabbies bulk up is often the first to atrophy as Alzheimer’s strikes.
    — Big Think, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Culture is a muscle that builds slowly but atrophies quickly.
    — Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2023
  • Doctors say social isolation can result in a faster rate of brain atrophy.
    — Julie Jargon, WSJ, 11 Dec. 2021
  • Others have rapid and unexplained weight loss and muscle atrophy.
    — Washington Post, 12 May 2021
  • In fact, research shows that vaginal atrophy tends to worsen over time without treatment.
    — Marygrace Taylor, Woman's Day, 8 Sep. 2020
  • Most of that sales growth came from Spinraza, a treatment for spinal muscular atrophy that launched last year.
    — Charley Grant, WSJ, 24 Apr. 2018
  • He was diagnosed with congenital spinal atrophy at the age of three.
    — Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 9 Mar. 2022
  • Detroit was far from the only city where the latest census showed a populace in atrophy.
    — New York Times, 28 Aug. 2021
  • In addition, the lack of sensory input from the ear may hasten rates of brain atrophy.
    — Stacey Burling, chicagotribune.com, 21 Oct. 2019

atrophy

2 of 2 verb
  • On the con side, your muscles will atrophy to the point where returning to Earth would kill you.
    — Ethan Simon, The New Yorker, 15 Nov. 2021
  • The idea that our human connections have atrophied over the past few years is by no means entirely wrong.
    — Lily Scherlis, Harper's Magazine, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Years of quarantine and remote work have left us with social muscles that have atrophied.
    — Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
  • When there’s no need to be civil to AI, people skills are at risk of atrophying.
    — Cynthia Pong, Forbes.com, 12 Feb. 2026
  • That same club now plays in the lowly fourth tier of British soccer, truly the minor leagues where a team can atrophy cash.
    — Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 20 Apr. 2021
  • These periods of wealth aligned with higher oil production, which has since atrophied.
    — Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 9 Jan. 2026
  • And like fishing towns all across Alaska, a few bad years of returns can atrophy the pathways to get fish to market.
    — Zachariah Hughes, Anchorage Daily News, 6 Sep. 2021
  • What if the act of getting back onstage becomes proof that the muscle has atrophied or that someone’s sense of humor got stuck a decade ago?
    — Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
  • Their defense industry and defense forces have atrophied.
    — Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 9 May 2026
  • Part of the cultural fabric of the city for more than a century, the tram system has been allowed to atrophy for a lack of riders.
    — Ahmer Khan, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Apr. 2023
  • Without the constant pull of gravity on the skeleton, muscle and bone can quickly atrophy.
    — Katia Riddle, NPR, 9 Apr. 2026
  • 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
  • Once an above-average second baseman, his defense had atrophied to be well below average over the last two seasons.
    — The Arizona Republic, 12 Apr. 2023
  • But modern life sells us the illusion of control, and our unused AQ muscles have atrophied.
    — Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes.com, 26 Mar. 2026
  • Language skills at the department are also atrophying.
    — Byron Tau, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2026
  • Cassidy would appear to be a man yearning for an experience that gives meaning to his life, which seems to have atrophied, lost its significance.
    — Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2025
  • Of course, the pain returned immediately, because once you are immobilized the muscles will atrophy.
    — Brian Fullem, Outside Online, 29 Apr. 2019
  • The system then atrophied, with the army knocked out of its complacency once again by setbacks experienced during the Crimean War.
    — Huw J. Davies, Foreign Affairs, 18 Apr. 2023
  • Although parts of the brain primed for creativity and thinking about the self can grow during loneliness, that could mean that other social parts of the brain would atrophy from inactivity.
    — Ryan Prior, CNN, 16 Dec. 2020
  • Short-haul business markets have atrophied because there are faster and more efficient modes of moving the data and information that air passengers once transported.
    — Michael Boyd, Forbes.com, 17 July 2025
  • As China surges, many traditional American strengths have atrophied.
    — Todd Young, Foreign Affairs, 15 Oct. 2025
  • And the Democratic Party has been stuck in anti-Trump crisis mode for so long that its policy infrastructure has atrophied.
    — Ian Millhiser, Vox, 21 Mar. 2025
  • The overall effect was that although the United States remained the world’s preeminent power, some of its most vital muscles atrophied.
    — Jake Sullivan, Foreign Affairs, 24 Oct. 2023
  • The story has gained ascendancy as a vehicle for understanding the world while the ability to interpret narrative has atrophied.
    — Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
  • Those kinds of incentives have helped to atrophy Republican leaders’ usual tools of maintaining discipline.
    — Blake Hounshell, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Jan. 2023
  • At birth, Holc weighed 6 pounds, 6 3/4 ounces and suffered from hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a fatal heart defect in which the heart’s left chamber is missing or atrophied.
    — Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Oct. 2025
  • What is your advice for people who are trying to either develop or redevelop this atrophying muscle of curiosity and attention?
    — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 26 June 2026
  • In total, the effort is designed to atrophy Russia's industrial base by robbing it of key components needed to carry out everyday business.
    — Jeremy Herb, CNN, 24 Feb. 2022
  • Its industrial and technological strength has atrophied, its vital supply chains are vulnerable, its alliances are frayed, and its government is hollowed out.
    — Hillary Rodham Clinton, Foreign Affairs, 9 Oct. 2020
  • The hippocampus is primarily responsible for memory and learning, and commonly shrinks, or atrophies, after a stroke.
    — New Atlas, 6 Sep. 2025

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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