English Dictionary |
FOSSILISE
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
Dictionary entry overview: What does fossilise mean?
• FOSSILISE (verb)
The verb FOSSILISE has 2 senses:
Familiarity information: FOSSILISE used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Conjugation: |
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fossilisation (becoming inflexible or out of date)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)
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