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 a markedly outdated or old-fashioned person or thing.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 a person, idea, thing, etc, that is outdated or incapable of change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

But while AI could boost the efficiency and use of renewables, the technology has long been used by oil and gas companies to sift through geological data, identify underground reservoirs and streamline fossil fuel production.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

According to estimates by the think tank Carbon Majors cited in the lawsuit, Shell holds responsibility for 2.02 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel and cement-making.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Their analysis combined the available fossil record with evolutionary relationships among dinosaurs, ancient geography, and climate conditions.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

We’ve also found other fossil animals, including lungfish and aquatic reptiles called phytosaurs, which are rare or absent in South African sites.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

Here is an example: a British anthropologist named Dr. Louis S. B. Leakey is displaying some fossil bones—a foot, part of a hand, some jaws, and skull fragments.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

The remarkable discovery, described in 2024 in the journal Scientific Reports, came from fossils unearthed in Gujarat, western India.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

There was one major problem with that explanation: Until now, no megaraptoran fossils had been identified in Europe.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

Scientists suspect Vasuki may have hunted in a similar way, although its precise diet and hunting behavior cannot be determined from the surviving fossils.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

Other Jurassic docodont fossils show that members of this group were already adapting to very different environments.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

They had been going for three or four months every summer to look for fossils.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall

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Related Words

• relic
• skeleton
• specimen
• trace

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