ossify

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os|si|fy /'ɒsɪfaɪ/ (ossifies ossifying ossified)
[VERB] V n, V
If an idea, system, or organization ossifies or if something ossifies it, it becomes fixed and difficult to change. (FORMAL)
It reckons that rationing would ossify the farm industry...
British society tended to ossify and close ranks as the 1930s drew to their close.
= fossilize

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