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
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.
Researchers rely heavily on fossilized bones to understand these environments, since the soft blades of seagrass rarely leave impressions in the geologic record.
From Science Daily
Using CT imaging and specialized software that allowed them to digitally model fossilized nervous system structures, the researchers concentrated on the closest known relative of the pterosaur.
From Science Daily
To compare ancient and modern sizes, the researchers examined 183 fossilized backbone segments belonging to at least 32 individual anacondas.
From Science Daily
When these results are combined with fossilized footprints, the overall appearance of this duck-billed dinosaur, long speculated about but never documented with this level of precision, becomes much clearer.
From Science Daily
Because sharks possess skeletons made of cartilage, their bodies rarely fossilize.
From Science Daily
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.
