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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Jared Speight is a stubborn titan of Long Island abstraction when star writer Roxy Margaux first becomes infatuated with his bravado.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
28 Apr. 2026
-
For concrete or tile, a mild cleaner helps remove the stubborn pollen film that builds up over spring months.—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Warsh would take the chairmanship at a complicated time, given that a spike in gas prices could keep the central bank from lowering interest rates — a move that Trump has been adamant on.—
Sarah Min,
CNBC,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Trump has been adamant that Iran give up its nuclear power ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in order for the war to end.—
Mabinty Quarshie,
The Washington Examiner,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
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For Anderson, the need for AI education for his law students crystallized at a 5th Circuit judicial conference in 2023.—
KATHERINE LIN,
ABC News,
20 Apr. 2026
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Those golden years were such because they were crystalized by our approach to songwriting.—
Jonathan Bernstein,
Rolling Stone,
14 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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They were armed with powerful, hardened beaks and likely had high intelligence.—
Jacek Krywko,
ArsTechnica,
24 Apr. 2026
-
This long-range missile has been operational since 2006 and is designed for deep strikes against hardened targets.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
21 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In group chats and meetings, Republicans are privately petrified the Iran war could cost them the midterms.—
Elizabeth Robinson,
NBC news,
16 Apr. 2026
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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 2 May. 2026.
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