OSSIFIED Synonyms: 150 Similar and Opposite Words

ossified 1 of 2

adjective

as in stubborn

sticking to an opinion, purpose, or course of action in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion the company's ossified management team failed to see the technological revolution that was sweeping their own industry

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ossified

2 of 2

verb

past tense of ossify

as in calcified

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of ossified

Adjective

These had a head dominated by large eyes and a partially ossified jaw—but again, no external gills. — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 23 June 2026 But rather than simply repeat the even-then ossified list of events leading to the invention of photography and the medium’s later innovations, the book uses a series of stories, reminiscences, and tall tales to describe how photography transformed everyday (and not so everyday) experience. — Literary Hub, 27 Apr. 2026 Lockhart, a mathematician who taught first at Brown University and UC Santa Cruz and then for many years at Saint Ann’s, a progressive private school in Brooklyn, argues that the injury is due to our ossified K–12 mathematics curriculum. — Dan Rockmore, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026 The collective dream was for a new, democratic structure that could replace Assad’s ossified legal regime. — Anand Gopal, New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2026 And he's taken aim at the foreign policy apparatus, describing institutions like the NSC and State Department as having been ossified and out of touch. — Franco Ordoñez, NPR, 26 Jan. 2026 This year’s awards narrative was already feeling especially ossified. — David Sims, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2026 The status quo—an ossified theocracy presiding over a bankrupt economy and an aggrieved populace—has already proven unsustainable. — Ali Vaez, Time, 15 Jan. 2026 Poking out of the vertical wall of a cutbank in a seasonally dry river was a vertebra – part of the backbone – and some ossified tendons. — Paul C. Sereno, The Conversation, 24 Oct. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ossified

Adjective

Backed by water tankers and a helicopter, firefighters on Sunday fought to contain a stubborn wildfire in Northern California that prompted officials to order evacuations.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 27 July 2026
Individual quality and a moment of magic can often be the key to unlock a stubborn defence, and Vinicius Jr has frequently been the difference for Madrid.

— Mark Carey, New York Times, 27 July 2026

Definition of stubborn

Verb

That brittleness, though, is exactly what has made Criston’s turn toward nihilism at the end of the second season, and now crystallized in episode five, so gratifying.

— The Editors, Vulture, 17 July 2026
According to interviews with Hooper, the concept for the film crystallized for him after a Christmastime visit to a Montgomery Ward department store.

— Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 July 2026

Definition of crystallized

Adjective

The idea that no one’s a star on set is one that Stewart was adamant about, with the attitude continuing since his time on the show.

— Angela Andaloro, PEOPLE, 25 July 2026
This summer has been challenging, yet Newcastle are adamant that their 85 per cent majority owner, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), is determined to spend up to the maximum within the rules moving forward.

— Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 18 July 2026

Definition of adamant

Verb

The first film follows a group of French high-school students who travel to Naples on a school trip to discover the ruins of Pompeii and the bodies petrified by Vesuvius.

— Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 20 May 2026
Johansson plays her with a tough edge to match her Queens accent, but Hester is clearly petrified by this perfect storm of ugly events.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2026

Definition of petrified

Browse Nearby Words

osmotic

ossified

ossifies

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“Ossified.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ossified. Accessed 1 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of ossified

adjective

verb

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