ossify
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.
See Examples For:
The risk is that such a containment policy could ossify into a stalemate that the regime will claim as a win.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Or am I about to do something that is going to reinforce these divisions and ossify the boundaries between people?
From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2023
We know, for example, that when you hit your 60s and 70s, vocal folds weaken, cartilage in the larynx begins to ossify and respiratory systems that power voices start to work less efficiently.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2021
Nadal, who has a longstanding foot problem because his navicular bone did not correctly ossify during childhood, was upbeat about his progress after his loss to Harris.
From New York Times ● Aug. 12, 2021
Valves of the Aorta of a cartilaginous texture, as if beginning to ossify.
From An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses With Practical Remarks on Dropsy and Other Diseases by William Withering
Despite their reputation for being ossified, “many major European companies are malleable now,” says Sarah Ketterer, chief executive of Causeway Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based global investment firm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
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
Since then, the sprawling content business that the New York Times Book Review mystery columnist Sarah Weinman has called the true-crime industrial complex has matured and ossified.
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2023
An ossified system can’t respond to hacks, and therefore has trouble evolving.
From Slate ● Feb. 10, 2023
All past oligarchies have fallen from power either because they ossified or because they grew soft.
From "1984" by George Orwell
![]()
It manifests now in a brittleness that tints their everyday exchanges as ossifying empty nesters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
In the years before the pandemic, many economists fretted about the declining rate of turnover, which they worried was a sign of an increasingly stagnant, even ossifying labor market.
From New York Times ● Jan. 3, 2023
“It amounts to ossifying the damage that DeJoy managed to do over the last year,” they said.
From Slate ● Mar. 23, 2021
That change of policy tack may jar ossifying market expectations.
From Reuters ● Aug. 3, 2016
The ossifying conviction that he was living out some ancient and preordained plan, encoded in his blood, built into the architecture of his name.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
![]()
Vocabulary lists containing ossify
Power Suffix: -fy
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
100 SAT words Beginning with "O"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Word Warriors: Four Years of Words Worth Reviving
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!