Learning / English Dictionary

FOSSILIZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become mentally inflexible

Synonyms:

fossilise; fossilize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

age; get on; maturate; mature; senesce (grow old or older)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Convert to a fossil

Example:

The little animals fossilized and are now embedded in the limestone

Synonyms:

fossilise; fossilize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

convert (change the nature, purpose, or function of something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fossilize"):

lapidify; petrify (change into stone)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something ----s something

Derivation:

fossil (the remains (or an impression) of a plant or animal that existed in a past geological age and that has been excavated from the soil)

fossilization (the process of fossilizing a plant or animal that existed in some earlier age; the process of being turned to stone)

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