fossilize

[ fos-uh-lahyz ]

verb (used with object)

, fos·sil·ized, fos·sil·iz·ing.

1. Geology. to convert into a fossil; replace organic with mineral substances in the remains of an organism.
2. to change as if into mere lifeless remains or traces of the past.
3. to make rigidly antiquated:

   Time has fossilized such methods.

verb (used without object)

, fos·sil·ized, fos·sil·iz·ing.

1. to become a fossil or like a fossil:

   The plant fossilized in comparatively recent geologic time.

2. 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.

fossilize

/ ˈfɒsɪˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to convert or be converted into a fossil
2. to become or cause to become antiquated or inflexible

Derived Forms

• ˈfossilˌizable, adjective
• ˌfossiliˈzation, noun

Other Words From

• fossil·iza·ble adjective
• fossil·i·zation noun
• semi·fossil·ized adjective
• un·fossil·ized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fossilize¹

First recorded in 1785–95; fossil + -ize

Example Sentences

Their extremely small size and lack of hard tissues mean they don’t fossilize easily—and when they do, they are very difficult to spot.

From Popular-Science

Dung often contains the raw materials and bacteria needed for it to fossilize, says Karen Chin.

From Science News For Students

Lab tests have shown that buried animal remains can fossilize in just weeks.

From Science News For Students

Sort of like tree sap mixed with asphalt, the substance solidifies and fossilizes everything it touches.

From Popular-Science

They couldn’t fossilize microbes on Mars for 4 billion years and see if they matched Allan Hills 84001.

From Quanta Magazine

It took twenty million years to make the fish and to fossilize him so we'd have the evidence later.

From Project Gutenberg

When you stiffen up a way of life and try to fossilize it so it'll stay that way forever, then you find you've lost it.

From Project Gutenberg

In these fringing woods are some curious dripping crags which fossilize every article submitted to their influence.

From Project Gutenberg

Cartilaginous jaws would not fossilize, and the Ostracoderms may have possessed them.

From Project Gutenberg

And he was able to guess, although he could not move his limbs to test it, that he was in the form in which he was to fossilize.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dwindle
• shrink
• wilt
• wither