fossilize
Americanverb (used with object)
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Geology. to convert into a fossil; replace organic with mineral substances in the remains of an organism.
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to change as if into mere lifeless remains or traces of the past.
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to make rigidly antiquated.
Time has fossilized such methods.
verb (used without object)
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to become a fossil or like a fossil.
The plant fossilized in comparatively recent geologic time.
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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
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to convert or be converted into a fossil
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to become or cause to become antiquated or inflexible
Other Word Forms
- fossilizable adjective
- fossilization noun
- semifossilized adjective
- unfossilized adjective
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
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Primates
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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.
The team also proposes a key explanation for the gap: the earliest sponges may not have had mineral skeletons, making them far less likely to fossilize.
From Science Daily • Apr. 15, 2026
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
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.
