CALCIFY Synonyms: 40 Similar and Opposite Words

calcify

verb

Definition of calcify

as in to ossify

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of calcify There’s an image of New York City, calcified in film, memoir, and newsprint, of a city built on a foundation of scruffy subcultures, especially those communities grounded in the city’s hundreds of distinct diasporas. — Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Apr. 2026 As the genre eventually called alt-country calcified in Souled American’s wake, luminaries like John Darnielle, Will Oldham, and Tweedy himself all evangelized about the Chicago group without ever replicating their sound. — Zach Schonfeld, Pitchfork, 17 Apr. 2026 Over the course of the shift, his body seems to calcify with tension, as though every successive hour in the hospital adds weight. — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2026 The liberal impulse — insistence that injustice isn’t cured by patience, willingness to reform systems that calcify into maladministration — can keep institutions from becoming the archives of old hierarchies. — Robert T.f. Downes, Hartford Courant, 6 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for calcify

Recent Examples of Synonyms for calcify

Verb

But, like any method, this one risks becoming a mere habit, ossifying into a new convention both visual and thematic.

— Richard Brody, New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2026
The application is old, and time has ossified it into something like an unapproachably evil Mayan relic, filled with shadowy regexes and dark magic, fit to be worshipped from afar but not trifled with.

— Lee Hutchinson, ArsTechnica, 4 Feb. 2026

Definition of ossify

Verb

And no conflict has crystallized this attraction to the world’s stronger nations over their weaker victims of aggression as has Russia’s war in Ukraine.

— Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor, 22 Oct. 2026
But now, as everything online morphs into algorithmic social media, the case for concern has crystallized into something quite specific.

— Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of crystallize

Verb

The characters are petrified like specimens, expressing and embodying only what fits into the film’s design, with no potential for inconvenient loose ends for viewers to follow outside the frame’s borders.

— Richard Brody, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2026
Here, a source of primordial terror—the gaze that petrifies—is deflected by way of the highly polished shield that Perseus wields against the creature.

— Jan Tumlir, Artforum, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of petrify

Verb

These high-acidity juices can cause whey protein powder to coagulate and curdle.

— Carrie Madormo, Verywell Health, 2 Oct. 2026
Reciprocal male-on-male mounting among corpse-eating burying beetles increases with heat stress, and chronic heat stress coagulates the blood of Holstein Friesian cattle.

— J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of coagulate

Browse Nearby Words

calcifies

calcify

calcifying

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Calcify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calcify. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of calcify

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

milieu

Popular in Grammar & Usage

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE

Popular

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes