calcify

[kal-suh-fahy]

verb (used with or without object)

calcified, calcifying 

1. Physiology.,  to make or become calcareous or bony; harden by the deposit of calcium salts.

2. Geology.,  to harden by deposition of calcium carbonate.

3. to make or become rigid or intransigent, as in a political position.

calcify

/ ˈkælsɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to convert or be converted into lime

2. to harden or become hardened by impregnation with calcium salts

Other Word Forms

• noncalcified adjective
• uncalcified adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of calcify¹

First recorded in 1830–40; calci- + -fy

Example Sentences

The new AD will work with a president who saw how the old model of college sports had become “calcified.”

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Those are things that we could try that people don’t necessarily have those calcified opinions around yet.

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Victor then flips back to an earlier chapter, before their graduation, to a time when Agnes seems less calcified in her idiosyncrasies.

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You may unfortunately remember the era through the parts that quickly calcified into cliché: $14 cocktails in Mason jars, the monoculture of pork belly, a nationwide proliferation of flaccid fried green tomatoes.

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It’s a socioeconomic and psychological cocktail that, experts explained, has calcified as a sort of baked-in resentment against older generations — but one that, when you consider things from their perspective, might be understandable.

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