fossil

American  

[fos-uhl] / ˈfɒs əl /

noun

• fossils
  plural

1. 

   any remains, impression, or trace of a living thing of a former geologic age, as a skeleton, footprint, etc.

2. a markedly outdated or old-fashioned person or thing.

3. a linguistic form that is archaic except in certain restricted contexts, as nonce in for the nonce, or that follows a rule or pattern that is no longer productive, as the sentence So be it.

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adjective

1. of the nature of a fossil.

   fossil insects.

2. belonging to a past epoch or discarded system; antiquated.

   a fossil approach to economics.

fossil British  

/ ˈfɒsəl /

noun

1. 1. a relic, remnant, or representation of an organism that existed in a past geological age, or of the activity of such an organism, occurring in the form of mineralized bones, shells, etc, as casts, impressions, and moulds, and as frozen perfectly preserved organisms

   2. ( as modifier )

      fossil insects

2. informal

   1. a person, idea, thing, etc, that is outdated or incapable of change

   2. ( as modifier )

      fossil politicians

3. linguistics a form once current but now appearing only in one or two special contexts, as for example stead , which is found now only in instead ( of ) and in phrases like in his stead

4. obsolete any rock or mineral dug out of the earth

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fossil Scientific  

/ fŏs′əl /

1. The remains or imprint of an organism from a previous geologic time. A fossil can consist of the preserved tissues of an organism, as when encased in amber, ice, or pitch, or more commonly of the hardened relic of such tissues, as when organic matter is replaced by dissolved minerals. Hardened fossils are often found in layers of sedimentary rock and along the beds of rivers that flow through them.

2. See also index fossil microfossil trace fossil

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fossil Cultural  

1. The evidence in rock of the presence of a plant or an animal from an earlier geological period. Fossils are formed when minerals in groundwater replace materials in bones and tissue, creating a replica in stone of the original organism or of their tracks. The study of fossils is the domain of paleontology. The oldest fossils (of bacteria) are 3.8 billion years old.

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Discover More

The term is used figuratively to refer to a person with very old-fashioned or outmoded viewpoints: “That old fossil thinks that men should wear suits at the theater!”

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subfossil
  noun
• fossillike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fossils
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of fossil

First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin fossilis “dug up,” from foss(us) “dug” (past participle of fodere “to dig”) + -ilis -ile ( def. ); replacing earlier fossile, from French

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Explanation

Fossils are the really, really old remains of a plant or animal — so old they've turned to stone. Fossil is also an insult for an old or old-fashioned person. Fossils are very important to scientists who study animals: they're one of the ways we learn about the beasts and critters of the past. A fossil is an imprint of the bones of that animal in rock or stone. If you see a reconstruction of a dinosaur in a museum, scientists used fossils to figure out how it should look. Also, calling someone a fossil is like calling them a geezer or old fogey. It's not a compliment.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fossil fossils

The use of fossil fuels to power the centre prompted criticism from environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth Cymru.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

"SolarStratos takes another step towards its ultimate goal: reaching the stratosphere aboard a crewed electric and solar-powered aircraft, without using a single drop of fossil fuel."

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

The Brazilian lawsuit also cites Shell's past record, including an internal company report from 1986 that acknowledged fossil fuels' role in increasing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

To determine exactly what kind of dinosaur they were examining, the scientists used CT scanning technology to investigate the fossil in detail.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

“Okay. How about this question, then—the hazmats really want us to find a fossil because they want to prove that life once existed on Mars, correct?”

From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga

Megaraptors are regarded as the most mysterious of the large, meat-eating dinosaurs, as few megaraptor fossils have been found.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

The research team also used mathematical modelling to investigate how the spread of megaraptors around the world might have changed over time, based on fossils discovered so far, dinosaurs' evolutionary trees, geography and climate.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

The first African dinosaur fossils to be noted scientifically hailed from the Eastern Cape, South Africa and were described in the 1850s.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

Geological evidence and plant fossils show that the Triassic landscape of Kariba was dry and dotted with stands of large conifer trees, with green corridors of vegetation following permanent watercourses.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

“The likelihood of finding a fossil is very low. It is unknown whether fossils even exist on Mars,” I say as I download more of the information that I have in my system.

From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga

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Related Words

• relic
• skeleton
• specimen
• trace

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