Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A process of fossilization in which dissolved minerals replace organic matter.
- noun The state of being stunned or paralyzed with fear.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Conversion into stone, specifically of organic substances or parts of such: fossilization; replacement of organic matter by some mineral substance, in which process more or less of the form and structure of the organized body is preserved.
- noun An organic substance converted into stone; a fossil.
- noun Figuratively, a rigid or stunned condition resulting from fear, astonishment, etc.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The process of petrifying, or changing into stone; conversion of any organic matter (animal or vegetable) into stone, or a substance of stony hardness.
- noun The state or condition of being petrified.
- noun That which is petrified; popularly, a body incrusted with stony matter; an incrustation.
- noun Fig.: Hardness; callousness; obduracy.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun the condition of being
petrified
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the process of turning some plant material into stone by infiltration with water carrying mineral particles without changing the original shape
- noun a rock created by petrifaction; an organic object infiltrated with mineral matter and preserved in its original form
Etymologies
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Examples
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The same kind of petrifaction is to be seen, it is said, at the hot springs of
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Akin to the foregoing condition is what is known as petrifaction or ossification of portions of the living human body other than the articulations.
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Akin to the foregoing condition is what is known as petrifaction or ossification of portions of the living human body other than the articulations.
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"A petrifaction was a kind of a hard-wood chemical git-up."
The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Charles Dudley Warner 1864
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"A petrifaction was a kind of a hard-wood chemical git-up."
In the Wilderness Charles Dudley Warner 1864
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It lies in a certain deliberate "petrifaction" of the human soul in us; a certain glacial detachment from all interests save one; a certain frigid insanity of preoccupation with our own emotion.
Visions and Revisions A Book of Literary Devotions John Cowper Powys 1917
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"petrifaction" theory has found among the mass of visitors -- even including many men of intelligence and general education.
The American Goliah Anonymous
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Yet all three animals were keyed to a tenseness of living that was almost painful, and scarcely ever would it come to them to be more alive than they were then in their seeming petrifaction.
The Lair 2010
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This dynamic process allows for the ability to translate the original text, thus giving that text a flexibility which refuses its petrifaction.
David Shasha: Monolingualism, Scriptural Translation and the Problem of Western Civilization David Shasha 2010
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This dynamic process allows for the ability to translate the original text, thus giving that text a flexibility which refuses its petrifaction.
David Shasha: Monolingualism, Scriptural Translation and the Problem of Western Civilization David Shasha 2010
yarb commented on the word petrifaction
Citation on pung.
April 3, 2010