fossilized
Americanadjective
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(of the remains of an organism) having organic substances replaced with mineral ones; converted into a fossil.
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rigidly antiquated.
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having become the lifeless or disused remains of something; being merely a trace of the past.
Other Word Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The fossilized object has a roughly triangular shape.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
In the late 1990s, scientists working in the Ajimu area of Oita prefecture, Japan, uncovered three fossilized vertebrae from a giant salamander in the Cryptobranchidae family.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
It’s an auction record for a fossilized dinosaur skeleton, beating a 150-million-year-old Stegosaurus that sold for $44.6 million two years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
"Gus" is one of the world's most complete T. rex skeletons -- with 183 fossilized bones -- and was discovered on a cattle ranch in South Dakota in 2021.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
The children watch engineers use pulleys to lift a fossilized dinosaur femur.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
