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

Example Sentences

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

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

From Los Angeles Times

The window between “framework announced” and “market structure ossified” will be measured in quarters, not years.

From MarketWatch

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

From New York Times

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