fossilize: Meaning and Definition of

fos•sil•ize

1. to convert into a fossil; replace organic with mineral substances in the remains of an organism.
2. to change as if into mere lifeless remains or traces of the past.
3. to make rigidly antiquated: Time has fossilized such methods.

1. to become a fossil or fossillike: The plant fossilized in comparatively recent geologic time.
2. (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.