ossified

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Like every other detail here, that implicit complaint is dusty and ossified, and Mr. Williamson’s formerly wised-up dialogue has been supplanted by a grinding earnestness, with everyone constantly asking about one another’s feelings.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026

The proposed cleanup and redevelopment of this ossified power plant joins a growing collection of such projects across the nation.

From New York Times • Oct. 17, 2023

Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda have become ossified, Fitzgerald said, more intellectual property in a billion-dollar franchise than human beings evolving in organic ways.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2023

An ossified system can’t respond to hacks, and therefore has trouble evolving.

From Slate • Feb. 10, 2023

Merely rational thought—forgive me for preaching, but I must, I must!—merely rational thought leaves the mind incurably crippled in a closed and ossified system, it can only extrapolate from the past.

From "Grendel" by John Gardner