FOSSILISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fossilise mean? 

• FOSSILISE (verb)
  The verb FOSSILISE has 2 senses:

1. convert to a fossil

2. become mentally inflexible

  Familiarity information: FOSSILISE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FOSSILISE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fossilise    ... he / she / it fossilises   
Past simple: fossilised   
Past participle: fossilised   
-ing form: fossilising   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Convert to a fossil

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

fossilise; fossilize

Context example:

The little animals fossilized and are now embedded in the limestone

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

convert (change the nature, purpose, or function of something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fossilise"):

lapidify; petrify (change into stone)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

fossilisation (the process of fossilizing a plant or animal that existed in some earlier age; the process of being turned to stone)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become mentally inflexible

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

fossilise; fossilize

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

age; get on; maturate; mature; senesce (grow old or older)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

fossilisation (becoming inflexible or out of date)

 Context examples 

The study found that goethite in St Oswald's Bay hosted many microbes as well as traces of their fossilised organic remains.

(Red Planet May Have Harbored Life in Past, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)