petrifaction
Americannoun
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the act or process of forming petrified organic material
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the state of being petrified
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of petrifaction
1640–50; petri- + -faction < Latin factiōn- (stem of factiō ) a making. See petrify, faction 1
Explanation
Petrifaction is when a plant or animal gradually turns into stone. Petrified wood, wood that's been fossilized over time, is one example of petrifaction. If you study geology, you'll come across the term petrifaction, which can also be called petrification. When an organism goes through petrifaction, its original structure is slowly replaced by minerals, until it's entirely made of stone. Many fossils are the result of petrifaction. This French word comes from the Middle French pétrifier, "to make or become stone," from its Latin root words, petra, "rock or crag," and ficare, "make or become."
Vocabulary lists containing petrifaction
Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science: Geology
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Earth Science - High School
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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.
For another video, Weitz dipped her own hand in porcelain slip and let it dry, creating a crackling petrifaction effect on her skin; her dusty, chalky-looking body then appeared a decaying sculpture itself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2016
The petrifaction of religious language has happened over and over – Catholic Latin, Orthodox Slavonic.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 1, 2011
Most were philosophers, and inquired into the workings of time and memory, natural history, the properties of light, heat, and petrifaction.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
Here they are, with all the green juvenility of the home-sickness still about them—a true petrifaction of an extinct feeling:— TO THE CONON.
From My Schools and Schoolmasters or The Story of my Education. by Miller, Hugh
First of all, he ardently desires to save them from the petrifaction which awaits all souls made frigid by a false philosophy.
From The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the First by Gozzi, Carlo
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.
