From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfossilizefos‧sil‧ize (also fossilise British English) /ˈfɒsəlaɪz $ ˈfɑː-/ verb 1 OLD-FASHIONEDif people, ideas, systems etc fossilize or are fossilized, they never change or develop, even when there are good reasons why they should change Most couples, however fossilized their relationship, have some interests in common.2 [intransitive, transitive]HEG to become or form a fossil by being preserved in rock fossilized dinosaur bonesGrammar Fossilize is usually passive. —fossilization /ˌfɒsəlaɪˈzeɪʃən $ ˌfɑːsələ-/ noun [uncountable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
fossilize• Not all sponges contain hard parts capable of being fossilized.• This makes the assumption, of course, that the plants have not changed their habits since they were fossilized.• For one thing, flowers do not readily fossilize - and leaves alone can be misleading.• Near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, I visited a rock shop made entirely of fossilized dinosaur bones.• The Soviets were unwilling to support the fossilized East German regime.• The union movement in this country suffers from fossilized leadership trapped in a time warp.• Fantastic electron microscope images of objects looking very suggestively like fossilized living forms again captured the imagination of the world.• The crumbled porcelain of a third lay embedded like fossilized prehistoric remains long entombed in silt and mud.• Most couples, however fossilized their relationship, have some interest in common, if it's only cooking or travel or pets. 