fossilize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
Geology. to convert into a fossil; replace organic with mineral substances in the remains of an organism.
-
to change as if into mere lifeless remains or traces of the past.
-
to make rigidly antiquated.
Time has fossilized such methods.
verb (used without object)
-
to become a fossil or like a fossil.
The plant fossilized in comparatively recent geologic time.
-
Linguistics. (of a linguistic form, feature, rule, etc.) to become permanently established in the interlanguage of a second-language learner in a form that is deviant from the target-language norm and that continues to appear in performance regardless of further exposure to the target language.
verb
-
to convert or be converted into a fossil
-
to become or cause to become antiquated or inflexible
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fossilize
Explanation
When something fossilizes, it becomes a fossil, meaning it leaves an impression in the Earth that far outlives the organism. Fossils are remnants left in rock of a living creature: the remnants have been petrified over many years and they leave an impression of what the animal was like. Fossilizing is a word for this process, which happens slowly over time. If dinosaurs had not fossilized, we wouldn't know much about what dinosaurs were like. The most likely parts of a creature to fossilize are hard parts like bones and shells.
Vocabulary lists containing fossilize
Awkward
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Primates
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
Because sharks possess skeletons made of cartilage, their bodies rarely fossilize.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2025
Behl is testing the chemical and mineral composition of the fossil blocks, hoping scientists can learn more about these prehistoric environments including the atmosphere and the conditions that enabled animal remains to fossilize.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2024
My mom emigrated from South Korea in 1967, bringing a set of flavors, techniques and recipes that would fossilize from that moment.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 9, 2023
Bite marks left on bones can fossilize quite clearly, and once the team started searching for such marks in earnest they found distinct imprints of crocodilian teeth on Dakota’s bones.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 14, 2022
If she kept changing, she could never fossilize into the thing their father had become .
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
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
It’s an auction record for a fossilized dinosaur skeleton, beating the $44.6 million that Citadel founder Kenneth Griffin paid two years ago for Apex, a 150-million-year old Stegosaurus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The nests contained no fossilized bees, which the researchers say is not surprising because the cave's warm, humid conditions are poor for preserving delicate insect bodies.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
According to a new study published in Royal Society Open Science, ancient bees used the empty tooth sockets in the fossilized jaws as tiny nests for their offspring.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
In September 1832, exploring the gray cliffs and low-lying clay bays near Punta Alta, he discovered an astonishing natural cemetery, with fossilized bones of enormous extinct mammals splayed out before him.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The world-renowned site features iron carbonate concretions that formed some 309 million years ago, fossilizing within them ancient creatures that had once thrived in the area's lush swamps, shallow seas and river deltas.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
The challenges associated with fossilizing soft tissues make the trilobites Losso studied even more special.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2023
Fish skeletons — even after fossilizing — retain records of an animal's growth, which depends on seasonal food availability.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 23, 2022
After his summer of fossilizing, Grinnell worked for his father’s securities-trading firm in New York and then as an aide to Marsh in New Haven.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 18, 2019
I see," said Miriam mischievously, "you think that sculpture should be a sort of fossilizing process.
From The Marble Faun - Volume 1 The Romance of Monte Beni by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
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.
