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# ossified

adjective (ossified); also the past form of the verb ossify (ossify, ossifies, ossified, ossifying)

«ossified» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (science) Ossified means turned into bone: soft cartilage that has hardened into bone, as happens in a growing child's skeleton. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ossified/#m1)
2. (formal) Ossified describes ideas, rules or groups that have become fixed, stiff and unable to change, like old dry bones. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ossified/#m2)

### 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ossified/#x1)
- As children grow, cartilage in the bones becomes ossified. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ossified/#x2)
- The old club had ossified rules that nobody dared to change. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ossified/#x3)
- The teacher said the empire's government had become ossified and slow. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ossified/#x4)
- The X-ray showed which bones had ossified. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ossified/#x5)
- Some ideas grow ossified if nobody questions them. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ossified/#x6)

### 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.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «ossified» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ossified/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«ossified» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/ossified.html) on Mova free.