Anabolic steroids are chemicals that are used to increase muscle production. Why are they called 'anabolic'? Corticosteroids can increase muscle and bone breakdown. What word could be used to describe them?

When a molecule is described as being anabolic it means that it  promotes the production of larger molecules. In other words, an anabolic process is a building process. Corticosteroids promote the breakdown of molecules and can therefore be described as catabolic. So anabolic steroids and corticosteroids working in opposite ways. The 'steroid' part of their name refers to the basic chemical structure.