Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense fossilizes, present participle fossilizing, past tense, past participle fossilizedregional note: in BRIT, also use fossilise
1. verb
If the remains of an animal or plant fossilize or are fossilized, they become hard and form fossils, instead of decaying completely.
The most important parts, the flowers, rarely fossilise. [VERB]
The survival of the proteins depends on the way in which bones are fossilised. [beVERB-ed]
...fossilized dinosaur bones. [VERB-ed]
2. verb
If you say that ideas, attitudes, or ways of behaving have fossilized or have been fossilized, you are criticizing the fact that they are fixed and unlikely to change, in spite of changing situations or circumstances.
[disapproval]
They seem to want to fossilize the environment in which people live and work. [VERB noun]
Needs change while policies fossilize. [VERB]
fossilizedadjective
...these fossilized organisations.
Synonyms: obsolete, antiquated, anachronistic, inflexible More Synonyms of fossilize
Synonyms: petrified, dead, extinct, prehistoric More Synonyms of fossilize
fossilize in British English
or fossilise (ˈfɒsɪˌlaɪz)
verb
1.
to convert or be converted into a fossil
2.
to become or cause to become antiquated or inflexible
Derived forms
fossilizable (ˈfossilˌizable) or fossilisable (ˈfossilˌisable)
adjective
fossilization (ˌfossiliˈzation) or fossilisation (ˌfossiliˈsation)
noun
fossilize in American English
(ˈfɑsəlˌaɪz)
verb transitiveWord forms: ˈfossilˌized or ˈfossilˌizing
1.
to change into a fossil or fossils; petrify
2.
to make out of date, rigid, or incapable of change