ossify

American  

[os-uh-fahy] / ˈɒs əˌfaɪ /

verb (used with object)

ossified, ossifying

1. to convert into or cause to harden like bone.

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verb (used without object)

ossified, ossifying

1. to become bone or harden like bone.

2. to become rigid or inflexible in habits, attitudes, opinions, etc..

   a young man who began to ossify right after college.

ossify British  

/ ˈɒsɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to convert or be converted into bone

2. (intr) (of habits, attitudes, etc) to become inflexible

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Other Word Forms

• ossifier
  noun
• unossifying
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of ossify

1705–15; < Latin ossi- (stem of os ) bone + -fy

Explanation

Ossify means to become bony. When a baby is born, some of their "bones" are actually soft cartilage, which allows for growth. As the child grows, these soft areas ossify into actual bone. The knee cap, for example, begins to ossify between ages 3 and 6. From the literal "to become bony" meaning of ossify, we get the more figurative meaning: to become rigid or hardened. Although you and other young people may be willing to effect social changes, many older voters have ossified in their opinions. Convincing these rigid thinkers that these changes are good for the country will be quite the challenge. If your kids sneak food to their rooms, you may find ossified cheese under the beds. Even mice won't touch that!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ossify ossified ossifying

Or am I about to do something that is going to reinforce these divisions and ossify the boundaries between people?

From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2023

We know, for example, that when you hit your 60s and 70s, vocal folds weaken, cartilage in the larynx begins to ossify and respiratory systems that power voices start to work less efficiently.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2021

After an era of vigorous growth, they ossify and die.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 23, 2019

The riots spread throughout Athens, then beyond into Thessaloniki and elsewhere in Europe, drawing many of the battle lines that would ossify once the Greek crisis erupted the following year.

From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2018

But the rough soldier who commanded the executioners had no prejudices or hatred to blind his eyes and ossify his heart.

From Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Mark by Maclaren, Alexander

Like every other detail here, that implicit complaint is dusty and ossified, and Mr. Williamson’s formerly wised-up dialogue has been supplanted by a grinding earnestness, with everyone constantly asking about one another’s feelings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026

The proposed cleanup and redevelopment of this ossified power plant joins a growing collection of such projects across the nation.

From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2023

Nor can you, apparently, be a successful, divorced, outspoken biracial American career woman and thrive among the hierarchically ossified, stiff-upper-lip royal family.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2023

An ossified system can’t respond to hacks, and therefore has trouble evolving.

From Slate ● Feb. 10, 2023

All past oligarchies have fallen from power either because they ossified or because they grew soft.

From "1984" by George Orwell

It manifests now in a brittleness that tints their everyday exchanges as ossifying empty nesters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026

“It amounts to ossifying the damage that DeJoy managed to do over the last year,” they said.

From Slate ● Mar. 23, 2021

That change of policy tack may jar ossifying market expectations.

From Reuters ● Aug. 3, 2016

A more positive and pragmatic idea of iconic men might be those whom we admire for their exceptional work, without either expecting them to be superhuman or ossifying them as a symbol.

From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2013

The ossifying conviction that he was living out some ancient and preordained plan, encoded in his blood, built into the architecture of his name.

From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner