fossilize
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.
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.
Origin of fossilize
1- Also especially British, fos·sil·ise .
Other words from fossilize
- fos·sil·iz·a·ble, adjective
- fos·sil·i·za·tion, noun
- sem·i·fos·sil·ized, adjective
- un·fos·sil·ized, adjective
Words Nearby fossilize
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use fossilize in a sentence
Their extremely small size and lack of hard tissues mean they don’t fossilize easily—and when they do, they are very difficult to spot.
Scientists discovered an extremely rare tardigrade fossil trapped in Dominican amber | Hannah Seo | October 6, 2021 | Popular-ScienceDung often contains the raw materials and bacteria needed for it to fossilize, says Karen Chin.
New beetle species found in fossil poop of this dino relative | Nikk Ogasa | August 12, 2021 | Science News For StudentsLab tests have shown that buried animal remains can fossilize in just weeks.
New beetle species found in fossil poop of this dino relative | Nikk Ogasa | August 12, 2021 | Science News For StudentsSort of like tree sap mixed with asphalt, the substance solidifies and fossilizes everything it touches.
What’s in a packrat’s petrified pee? Just a few thousand years of secrets. | Rachel Feltman | August 12, 2021 | Popular-ScienceThey couldn’t fossilize microbes on Mars for 4 billion years and see if they matched Allan Hills 84001.
What Is Life? Its Vast Diversity Defies Easy Definition. | Carl Zimmer | March 9, 2021 | Quanta Magazine
It took twenty million years to make the fish and to fossilize him so we'd have the evidence later.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete | Albert Bigelow PaineWhen you stiffen up a way of life and try to fossilize it so it'll stay that way forever, then you find you've lost it.
The Syndic | C.M. KornbluthIn these fringing woods are some curious dripping crags which fossilize every article submitted to their influence.
The Rivers and Streams of England | A.G. BradleyCartilaginous jaws would not fossilize, and the Ostracoderms may have possessed them.
The Origin of Vertebrates | Walter Holbrook GaskellAnd he was able to guess, although he could not move his limbs to test it, that he was in the form in which he was to fossilize.
It Never Can Happen Again | William De Morgan
British Dictionary definitions for fossilize
fossilise
/ (ˈfɒsɪˌlaɪz) /
to convert or be converted into a fossil
to become or cause to become antiquated or inflexible
Derived forms of fossilize
- fossilizable or fossilisable, adjective
- fossilization or fossilisation, noun
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
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