Library / English Dictionary

CALCIFY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: calcified   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Convert into lime

Example:

the salts calcified the rock

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "calcify" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

calcium (a white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light; the fifth most abundant element in the earth's crust; an important component of most plants and animals)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Turn into lime; become calcified

Example:

The rock calcified over the centuries

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "calcify" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

calcification (tissue hardened by deposition of lime salts)

calcium (a white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light; the fifth most abundant element in the earth's crust; an important component of most plants and animals)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Become impregnated with calcium salts

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "calcify" is one way to...):

harden; indurate (become hard or harder)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Antonym:

decalcify (remove calcium or lime from)

Derivation:

calcification (a process that impregnates something with calcium (or calcium salts))

calcification (tissue hardened by deposition of lime salts)

calcium (a white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light; the fifth most abundant element in the earth's crust; an important component of most plants and animals)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Become inflexible and unchanging

Example:

Old folks can calcify

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "calcify" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

calcification (an inflexible and unchanging state)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Surgery performed with the purpose of replacing a degenerated, calcified, malformed, dysfunctional, etc. mitral valve with bioprosthetic, homograft or autograft valve.

(Mitral Valve Replacement, NCI Thesaurus)

Surgery performed with the purpose of replacing a degenerated, calcified, malformed, dysfunctional, etc. aortic valve with a bioprosthetic, homograft, or autograft valve.

(Aortic Valve Replacement, NCI Thesaurus)

Teeth and scales, along with a small amount of calcified cartilage from the jaw and gill structure of a Gladbachus, dated back 385 million years, were collected in Germany which, like most of Europe, was covered by seawater during the ancient shark's lifetime.

(Ancient sharks likely more diverse than previously thought, National Science Foundation)

Clinical manifestations include severe skeletal defects resembling vitamin D-resistant rickets, failure of the calvarium to calcify, dyspnea, cyanosis, vomiting, constipation, renal calcinosis, failure to thrive, disorders of movement, beading of the costochondral junction, and rachitic bone changes.

(Hypophosphatasia, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)