<p><strong>Verb (used with object)</strong></p><ul><li>to convert into a fossil; replace organic with mineral substances in the remains of an organism</li><li>to change as if into mere lifeless remains or traces of the past</li><li>to make rigidly antiquated: Time has fossilized such methods</li></ul><p><strong>Verb (used without object)</strong></p><ul><li>to become a fossil or like a fossil: The plant fossilized in comparatively recent geologic time</li><li>(of a linguistic form, feature, rule, etc.) to become permanently established in the interlanguage of a second-language learner in a form that is deviant from the target-language norm and that continues to appear in performance regardless of further exposure to the target language</li></ul>