Dictionary

fossilize en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈfɒsl̩aɪz/ (UK)
• /ˈfɒs.ɪl.aɪz/ (UK)

Etymology

Etymology tree English fossil Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize English fossilize From fossil + -ize.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To make into a fossil.
   • Most of the booths had been scooped clean by the scalpel-sharp corner of the glacier in the crash. Three remained. Two of them were punctured and, inside, the once-human occupants had been fossilized into the walls by centuries upon centuries of patient ice. 1989, Grant Naylor, Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers:
2. (intransitive) To become a fossil.
3. (broadly, figuratively, intransitive) To become inflexible or outmoded.
   • I was getting fossilised myself, but of late my stock of ideas has been very much enlarged. 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
4. (broadly, figuratively, transitive) To make antiquated, rigid, or fixed; to deaden.
   • Ten layers of birthdays on a woman's head / Are apt to fossilize her girlish mirth. 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Eighth Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC:
   • I'll meet you again Blanketed in soil Fossilized in photographs 2013, Days N' Daze, “Blue Jays”, in Rogue Taxidermy:

Forms

Deriveds

fossilizer · fossilizable

Relateds

fossilization

Synonyms

fossilify (To become a fossil) · fossilate (To become a fossil)

Translations (25)

de fossilisieren (to make into fossil) · hu megkövesedik (to become a fossil) · tr fosilleştirmek (to make into fossil) · ro fosiliza (to make into fossil) · fi fossilisoitua (to become a fossil) · it fossilizzare (to become a fossil) · fi fossilisoida (to make into fossil) · oc se fossilizar (to become a fossil) · es fosilizar (to become a fossil) · ro se fosiliza (to become a fossil) · tr fosilleşmek (to become a fossil) · ja 化石する (to become a fossil) · he הִתְאַבֵּן (to become a fossil) · es fosilizar (to make into fossil) · mi whakamātātoka (to become a fossil) · de fossilisieren (to become a fossil) · sv fossilisera (to make into fossil) · he אִבֵּן (to make into fossil) · fr fossiliser (to make into fossil) · pl skostnieć (to become a fossil) · it fossilizzare (to make into fossil) · oc fossilizar (to make into fossil) · mi whakamātātoka (to make into fossil) · ja 化石させる (to make into fossil) · pl kostnieć (to become a fossil)