Search Result for "ossification": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (4)

1. the developmental process of bone formation;

2. the calcification of soft tissue into a bonelike material;

3. the process of becoming rigidly fixed in a conventional pattern of thought or behavior;

4. hardened conventionality;
[syn: ossification, conformity]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Ossification \Os`si*fi*ca"tion\, n. [Cf. F. ossification. See Ossify.] 1. (Physiol.) The formation of bone; the process, in the growth of an animal, by which inorganic material (mainly lime salts) is deposited in cartilage or membrane, forming bony tissue; ostosis. [1913 Webster] Note: Besides the natural ossification of growing tissue, there is the so-called accidental ossification which sometimes follows certain abnormal conditions, as in the ossification of an artery. [1913 Webster] 2. The state of being changed into a bony substance; also, a mass or point of ossified tissue. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

ossification n 1: the developmental process of bone formation 2: the calcification of soft tissue into a bonelike material 3: the process of becoming rigidly fixed in a conventional pattern of thought or behavior 4: hardened conventionality [syn: ossification, conformity]