calcification

[kal-suh-fi-key-shuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR calcification ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a changing into lime.

Physiology. the deposition of lime or insoluble salts of calcium and magnesium, as in a tissue.

Anatomy, Geology. a calcified formation.

a soil process in which the surface soil is supplied with calcium in such a way that the soil colloids are always close to saturation.

a hardening or solidifying; rigidity: As the conflict developed, there was an increasing calcification of attitudes on both sides.

Origin of calcification

First recorded in 1840–50; calcific + -ation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for calcification

freezing, coagulation, concretion, setting, petrification, fossilization, crystallization, ossification, calcification

Examples from the Web for calcification

Historical Examples of calcification

Calcification of the teeth begins at the seventeenth week of fœtal life.
Degeneracy
Eugene S. Talbot
The hyaline cartilage of the vertebral region forms a vertebral body in which calcification may to some extent take place.
The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume III (of 4)
Francis Maitland Balfour
Calcification of the media is found and is said to be preceded by hypertrophy of the middle coat.
Arteriosclerosis and Hypertension:
Louis Marshall Warfield
When the calcification occurs in plates through the media, the well known pipe stem vessel is produced.
Arteriosclerosis and Hypertension:
Louis Marshall Warfield
Occasionally hyaline degeneration or calcification of the new-formed tissue is seen.
Arteriosclerosis and Hypertension:
Louis Marshall Warfield

British Dictionary definitions for calcification

calcification

noun

the process of calcifying or becoming calcified

pathol a tissue hardened by deposition of lime salts

any calcified object or formation

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

calcification in Medicine

calcification

[kăl′sə-fĭ-kā′shən]

n.

Impregnation with calcium or calcium salts.calcareous infiltration

Hardening, as of tissue, by such impregnation.

A calcified substance or part.

calcification in Science

calcification

[kăl′sə-fĭ-kā′shən]

Medicine

The accumulation of calcium or calcium salts in a body tissue. Calcification normally occurs in the formation of bone, but can be deposited abnormally, as in the lungs.
A structure that has undergone calcification.

Geology

The replacement of organic material, especially original hard material such as bone, with calcium carbonate during the process of fossilization.
The accumulation of calcium in certain soils, especially soils of cool temperate regions where leaching takes place very slowly.