ossified

Everyday

1. (science) Ossified means turned into bone: soft cartilage that has hardened into bone, as happens in a growing child's skeleton. tree →
2. (formal) Ossified describes ideas, rules or groups that have become fixed, stiff and unable to change, like old dry bones. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons about the human body, a baby's skeleton is partly soft cartilage that slowly becomes ossified as the child grows. In history and argument it describes old-fashioned systems that never change: «an ossified government». Phrases: became ossified, ossified ideas, ossified rules.

Examples

• A baby's skull is not fully ossified, so it has soft spots. tree →
• As children grow, cartilage in the bones becomes ossified. tree →
• The old club had ossified rules that nobody dared to change. tree →
• The teacher said the empire's government had become ossified and slow. tree →
• The X-ray showed which bones had ossified. tree →
• Some ideas grow ossified if nobody questions them. tree →

Note

From Latin «os» = bone. Verb ossify: ossifies, ossified (y changes to i). Noun: ossification. The second sense is figurative and formal. Do not confuse with «fossilised», which means preserved in rock; but both can be used for ideas that are stuck in the past.