Word
dystrophy
Phoneticsdys·tro·phy
US/ˈdɪstɹəfi/
UK/dˈɪstɹəfi/
Definition
n. a medical condition where a part of the body, like a muscle or a nerve, becomes weaker or smaller than it should be. It usually happens because of a lack of something important, like a specific protein.
n. a pathological condition characterized by the degeneration or wasting away of a specific tissue or organ. Often used in medical contexts to describe muscular or neurological atrophy.
Examples
“The doctor diagnosed the patient with muscular dystrophy.”
“Researchers are working on new treatments to slow the progression of the disease and prevent further dystrophy in the legs.”
“The patient's symptoms suggested a form of dystrophy that was not previously documented, requiring a comprehensive genetic analysis to identify the underlying cause of the tissue degeneration.”
Examples
simple
“The doctor diagnosed the patient with muscular dystrophy.”
contextual
“Researchers are working on new treatments to slow the progression of the disease and prevent further dystrophy in the legs.”
complex
“The patient's symptoms suggested a form of dystrophy that was not previously documented, requiring a comprehensive genetic analysis to identify the underlying cause of the tissue degeneration.”
Real-World Examples
“I had just worked on the documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin , in which a little boy is born with muscular dystrophy, and here I was confronting a not dissimilar situation.” “This gene contains the blueprint for a protein that stabilizes muscle cells and is disrupted in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.” Etymology
From dys- + -trophy, literally “bad growth”, as in the opposite of growth.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/dystrophy