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
James Wood, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
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
His narrators—never too distinct from the author himself—relish exploring their childhoods in the Sovietized Bulgaria of the nineteen-seventies and eighties, measuring that artificially ossified world against modern consumerist Europe.
—James Wood, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
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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That individual brilliance which can produce a moment of magic to break open a stubborn defence is harder to come by.—
Liam Tharme,
New York Times,
31 Oct. 2025
-
Be sure to pay extra attention to stubborn stains.—
Jennifer Beck Goldblatt,
Architectural Digest,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The attorney general was adamant that if Running Fence broke the law, workers would be arrested and jailed, and contractors would lose their licenses.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
-
Lownie is adamant that their friendship dates back to 1991.—
Stephanie Nolasco , Ashley Papa,
FOXNews.com,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Plans for a fourth film, set to be released in 2011, never crystallized.—
Lauren Huff,
Entertainment Weekly,
28 Oct. 2025
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That vision crystallized after Van Mecl and his husband purchased a 1920s Moorish-style house on Jann Avenue.—
Carmen F de Terenzio,
Miami Herald,
28 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Against armored targets, the outer jacket is stripped away upon impact, allowing the hardened steel core to penetrate alone.—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Oct. 2025
-
The extruder gears and rods are made from hardened steel, which resists wear.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The only issue is his mother Laura (Wright), a woman who has lost a child once before and is petrified of a repeat.—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
5 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ossified.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ossified. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
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