ossify
English
WOTD – 1 September 2008
Etymology
Back-formation from ossification, or modeled on French ossifier and formed from Latin os, ossis (“bone”) + -ify.[1]
Verb
ossify (third-person singular simple present ossifies, present participle ossifying, simple past and past participle ossified)
- (transitive, intransitive) To transform (or cause to transform) from a softer animal substance into bone; particularly the processes of growth in humans and animals.
- (transitive, intransitive, animate) To become (or cause to become) inflexible and rigid in habits or opinions.
- 1996, Peter Schwartz, The Art of the Long View, →ISBN, page 96:
- Before long, the entire organization ossifies.
- 2006, Michael S. Jones, Metaphysics of Religion: Lucian Blaga and Contemporary Philosophy, →ISBN, page 79:
- Possession of absolute knowledge would ossify the human spirit, quenching human creativity;
- (transitive, intransitive, inanimate) To grow (or cause to grow) formulaic and permanent.
- 1886, Samuel Moore, “Chapter 14”, in Capital, volume I, translation of original by Karl Marx:
- This accidental repartition gets repeated, develops advantages of its own, and gradually ossifies into a systematic division of labour.
- 2001, Kevin O'Neill, David Suchoff, The Wisdom of Love, translation of original by Alain Finkielkraut, →ISBN, page 55:
- Now, in turn, we apply a revolutionary critique that […] ossifies into a rhetoric to become "the monstrous Latin of a monstrous church."
- 2005 December 20, Michelle Goldberg, “The war on 'Munich'”, in Salon.com, archived from the original on 6 March 2008:
- [T]he charge threatens to ossify into conventional wisdom before the movie's audience can get to theaters to see how misguided it is.
- (rare) To calcify.
- 1850, Roxey Ann Caplin, “Chapter X”, in Health and Beauty:
- The cartilages become brittle, and in many instances are ossified; the ligaments are rendered harder, but are less capable of resisting extension.
Synonyms
- (become inflexible and rigid): harden
Related terms
Translations
to transform into bone
|
to become inflexible in habits or opinions
to grow formulaic and permanent
|
to calcify — see calcify
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “ossify”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
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