ossify
Use Ossify in a sentence
əˌfaɪ verb (used with object)
1.
to convert into or cause to harden like bone.
verb (used without object)
2.
to become bone or harden like bone.
3.
to become rigid or inflexible in habits, attitudes, opinions, etc.: a young man who began to ossify right after college.
Related forms
os·si·fi·er, noun
un·os·si·fy·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To ossify
Collins
World English Dictionary
ossify (ˈɒsɪˌfaɪ) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb , -fies, -fying, -fied | |
| 1. | to convert or be converted into bone |
| 2. | (intr) (of habits, attitudes, etc) to become inflexible |
| [C18: from French ossifier, from Latin os bone + facere to make] | |
| 'ossifier | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
00:10
Ossify
is a GRE word you need to know.
So is malapropism. Does it mean:
| having or showing a disposition to obtrude, as by imposing oneself or one's opinions on others |
| A wonderful form of word play in which one word is mistakenly substituted for another that sounds similar. |
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
ossify
1713, "to turn into bone," from L. os (gen. ossis) "bone" (see osseous). Fig. sense is from 1858.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
ossify os·si·fy (ŏs'ə-fī')
v. os·si·fied, os·si·fy·ing, os·si·fies
To change into bone.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Example sentences
Each of the lateral parts begins to ossify from a single center during the eighth week of fetal life.
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