as in conservative
a person with old-fashioned ideas
some old fossil who thinks that a boy and a girl shouldn't be together unsupervised until they are engaged
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fossil
What a road map might look like In Belém, representatives talked about creating a road map that would be science-based and aligned with the Paris climate agreement, and would include various pathways to achieve a just transition for fossil-fuel-dependent regions.
—
Jennifer Morgan, The Conversation, 6 Jan. 2026
The next step is to test this idea, something that the team thinks is possible using precise observations from future telescopes of a cosmic fossil called the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), a leftover from an event in the universe shortly after the Big Bang.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 5 Jan. 2026
The fourth floor of the Texas Science and Natural History Museum is designed for reverence — fossils, minerals, evidence of deep time.
—Ana Gutierrez, Austin American Statesman, 30 Dec. 2025
The dozen or so Denisovan fossils that had been identified since 2010 using DNA were too small and fragmentary to warrant an official species name.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 26 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fossil
Jennifer Morgan, The Conversation, 6 Jan. 2026
The next step is to test this idea, something that the team thinks is possible using precise observations from future telescopes of a cosmic fossil called the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), a leftover from an event in the universe shortly after the Big Bang.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 5 Jan. 2026
The fourth floor of the Texas Science and Natural History Museum is designed for reverence — fossils, minerals, evidence of deep time.
—Ana Gutierrez, Austin American Statesman, 30 Dec. 2025
The dozen or so Denisovan fossils that had been identified since 2010 using DNA were too small and fragmentary to warrant an official species name.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 26 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fossil
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fossil
Noun
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Democrats have run several bills over the past few years to protect trans youth, in particular, a move that conservatives have decried as government interference with families.—
Seth Klamann,
Denver Post,
14 Jan. 2026
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But the six conservatives, a majority of them seemed not persuaded by that argument.—
Dana Taylor,
USA Today,
14 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The coalition’s duties include advising city staff on veteran issues, selecting the annual Veteran of the Year and contributing to the maintenance of the city’s veterans memorial.—
Linda Mcintosh,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
16 Jan. 2026
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Derrick Merrin, her 2024 challenger, is launching a rematch, and Air Force veteran Alea Nadeem is also vying for the Republican nomination.—
Rachel Schilke,
The Washington Examiner,
16 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Old fogey-ish, ungrateful and stupid.—
Katie Hafner,
Scientific American,
10 Sep. 2025
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These are people who know AI and have grown up with this stuff that these old fogies haven't.—
Alison Snyder,
Axios,
23 Feb. 2025
Noun
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This man performed in all of Shakespeare’s plays, Assumed all parts from mossbacks to boys young.—
Richard Lederer,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
28 Sep. 2019
Noun
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With his piano-pounding performances, wild vocals, bouffant hair and makeup, Little Richard burst onto the musical scene in the 1950s and shook up the stuffed shirts with a string of his hit songs that got both black and white people dancing.—
NBC News,
NBC News,
9 May 2020
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Karen Knorr’s photos of the private members’ clubs of London in the early 1980s are full of stuffed shirts wearing gleaming brogues.—
The Economist,
The Economist,
25 Feb. 2020
Cite this Entry
“Fossil.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fossil. Accessed 17 Jan. 2026.
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