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ossify

[os-uh-fahy]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ossify ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), os·si·fied, os·si·fy·ing.

to convert into or cause to harden like bone.

verb (used without object), os·si·fied, os·si·fy·ing.

to become bone or harden like bone.
to become rigid or inflexible in habits, attitudes, opinions, etc.: a young man who began to ossify right after college.

Origin of ossify

1705–15; < Latin ossi- (stem of os) bone + -fy
Related formsos·si·fi·er, nounun·os·si·fy·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for ossify

stiffen, thicken, indurate, freeze, harden, congeal, solidify, petrify, fossilize

Examples from the Web for ossify

Historical Examples of ossify

  • There is a general growth to be observed, and the bones are beginning to ossify.

    Embryology

    Gerald R. Leighton

  • The first vertebra to ossify is the second or third cervical, and the ossification gradually extends to those behind.

  • The mentomecklians do not ossify until approximately the same time that the quadratojugal appears in the upper jaw.

  • Convictions harden and grow, and differences magnify and ossify as the controversy progresses.

    Lord Randolph Churchill

    Winston Spencer Churchill

  • The latter will always take care of themselves—the danger being that they rapidly tend to ossify us.

British Dictionary definitions for ossify

ossify

verb -fies, -fying or -fied

to convert or be converted into bone
(intr) (of habits, attitudes, etc) to become inflexible
Derived Formsossifier, noun

Word Origin for ossify

C18: from French ossifier, from Latin os bone + facere to make
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
Word Origin and History for ossify
v.

1713, "to turn into bone," a back-formation from ossification, or else modeled on French ossifier (18c.) and formed from Latin os (genitive ossis) "bone" (see osseous) + -fy. Figurative sense is from 1858. Related: Ossified; ossifying.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ossify in Medicine

ossify

[ŏs′ə-fī′]

v.

To change into bone.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.