Library / English Dictionary

OSSIFY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: ossified   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become bony

Example:

The tissue ossified

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

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

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

ossification (the calcification of soft tissue into a bonelike material)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to become hard and bony

Example:

The disease ossified the tissue

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

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

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

ossification (the calcification of soft tissue into a bonelike material)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make rigid and set into a conventional pattern

Example:

slogans petrify our thinking

Synonyms:

ossify; petrify; rigidify

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

stiffen (make stiff or stiffer)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

ossification (hardened conventionality)

ossification (the process of becoming rigidly fixed in a conventional pattern of thought or behavior)

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