ossify
verb /ˈɒsɪfaɪ/
/ˈɑːsɪfaɪ/
[usually passive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they ossify | /ˈɒsɪfaɪ/ /ˈɑːsɪfaɪ/ |
| he / she / it ossifies | /ˈɒsɪfaɪz/ /ˈɑːsɪfaɪz/ |
| past simple ossified | /ˈɒsɪfaɪd/ /ˈɑːsɪfaɪd/ |
| past participle ossified | /ˈɒsɪfaɪd/ /ˈɑːsɪfaɪd/ |
| -ing form ossifying | /ˈɒsɪfaɪɪŋ/ /ˈɑːsɪfaɪɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive, transitive, usually passive] ossify (something) (formal, disapproving) to become or make something fixed and unable to change
- an ossified political system
- [intransitive, transitive, usually passive] ossify (something) (specialist) to become or make something hard like bone
Word Originearly 18th cent.: from French ossifier, from Latin os, oss- ‘bone’.