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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Recent Examples of ossified
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
Really late developers, who might not be fully grown until around 20 or 21, could be 25 before their apophyseal sites are fully ossified.
—Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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
Really late developers, who might not be fully grown until around 20 or 21, could be 25 before their apophyseal sites are fully ossified.
—Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ossified
Adjective
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Grab a melamine sponge and get rid of stubborn bathtub stains in a jiffy.—
Melissa Locker,
Southern Living,
1 June 2026
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If the Avs remain stubborn and play a style that suits their stars in the regular season, MacKinnon might win another title, but will be at the end of his career with another team.—
Troy Renck,
Denver Post,
1 June 2026
Adjective
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Officials with the Georgia Department of Transportation have been adamant that many of the major road closures and resurfacing projects are unrelated to the World Cup, and therefore are on a multi-year timeline.—
Irene Wright,
USA Today,
29 May 2026
-
Healthcare advocates are equally adamant.—
Dan Walters,
Mercury News,
28 May 2026
Verb
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But how the homicides he is accused of affected the then-small-town of Concord are crystallized in newspaper clippings.—
Julia Coin
May 29,
Charlotte Observer,
29 May 2026
-
Homer crystallized the impulse to return home after a long time away from all that is familiar.—
Maira Garcia,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2026
Adjective
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Cuban leaders are believed to rely on hardened facilities, underground bunkers, tunnels, decoys, secure compounds and frequent movement.—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
28 May 2026
-
That means hardened infrastructure, redundant logistics, jointly developed air and missile defenses, more resilient energy systems, and upgrades to pipelines, ports, rail, and trade routes.—
Daniel Benaim,
Time,
18 May 2026
Verb
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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
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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
Cite this Entry
“Ossified.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ossified. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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