atrophy

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A reduction in the functionality of an organ caused by disease, injury or lack of use.

   “Now that chatbots are going the way of Google—moving from the miraculous to the taken-for-granted—the anxiety has shifted, too, from apocalypse to atrophy. Teachers, especially, say they’re beginning to see the rot. The term for it is unlovely but not inapt: de-skilling.”

verb

1. (intransitive)To wither or waste away.

   “Boy. I love summer vacation. I can feel my brain beginning to atrophy already.”

   “The M10 highway looks normal enough at the southern limits of St. Petersburg, but then, with a jolt, it begins to atrophy. For the next 430 miles the surface of the highway, while paved, varies from corduroy to jaw-rattling patchwork.”

2. (transitive)To cause to waste away or become abortive; to starve or weaken.

   “Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion”