ossify

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To transform (or cause to transform) from a softer animal substance into bone

   To transform (or cause to transform) from a softer animal substance into bone; particularly the processes of growth in humans and animals.

   • […], nor do all bones of the same skeleton ossify during the samе period of time.
2. 2

   To become (or cause to become) inflexible and rigid in habits or opinions.

   • Before long, the entire organization ossifies.
   • Possession of absolute knowledge would ossify the human spirit, quenching human creativity;
3. 3

   To grow (or cause to grow) formulaic and permanent.

   • This accidental repartition gets repeated, develops advantages of its own, and gradually ossifies into a systematic division of labour.
   • Now, in turn, we apply a revolutionary critique that […] ossifies into a rhetoric to become "the monstrous Latin of a monstrous church."
   • [T]he charge threatens to ossify into conventional wisdom before the movie's audience can get to theaters to see how misguided it is.
4. ›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer

   1. 4

      To calcify.

      • The cartilages become brittle, and in many instances are ossified; the ligaments are rendered harder, but are less capable of resisting extension.

The neighborhood

• neighborossification
• neighborossifier
• neighborcalcify