fossil

Syllables: fos·silUK/ˈfɒsl̩//ˈfɑsl̩/

fossil noun: the mineralized remains of an animal or plant.

Image: Halvard : from Norway, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

fossil (plural fossils)

The mineralized remains of an animal or plant.
- With the permission of the Keeper of the fossil collection, therefore, the specimen was subjected to a further careful removal of the matrix in the requisite directions.1870, T. H. Huxley, “On Hypsilophodon Foxii, a new Dinosaurian from the Wealden of the Isle of Wight”, in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, volume 26, page 9
- Within the Hepaticae two types of fossils can be distinguished: those with sufficient characters to assign them to an order and those with more obscure characters.1987, Cora Oostendorp, The Bryophytes of the Palaeozoic and the Mesozoic (Bryophytorum Bibliotheca; 34), Berlin, Stuttgart: J. Cramer, page 9
Any preserved evidence of ancient life, including shells, imprints, burrows, coprolites, and organically-produced chemicals.
- He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record.2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2012, page 162
- You know what, we’ve got a limited number of heartbeats in this world so if you’re only truly happy researching fossils and can make it work for you, you go for it.2016 November 9, Mark Carnall, “Is palaeontology a waste of public money?”, in The Guardian
A fossil word.
(figuratively) Anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated.
(derogatory, figuratively) An extremely old or outdated person.
- I do not want to convey any disrespectful notion or slight when I call those good and learned men fossils, but my experience is that people are apt to fossilise even at a University if they follow the same paths too persistently.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
- All at once there was a tapping at the window pane. Atherton was staring at us from without. He shouted through the glass, ‘Come out of that, you fossils! — I’ve news for you!’1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle
(Internet, colloquial) A piece of content, which, despite its age, is being repromoted to a large volume of users by the algorithm.

Proper noun capitalized: Fossil

Fossil

A small city, the county seat of Wheeler County, Oregon, United States.

fossil meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

fossil in Hindi

The mineralized remains of an animal or plant: जीवाश्म jīvāśma
paleontology: any preserved evidence of ancient life: जीवाश्म jīvāśma

fossil in Tamil

தொல்லுயிர் எச்சம், புதைப்படிமம்

fossil in Urdu

The mineralized remains of an animal or plant: رِکاز rikāz, فوسِل fosil, کُنجْوَر kunjvar, فوصِل fosil, سَن٘گوارَہ saṅgvāra

fossil in Bengali

fossil: জীবাশ্ম jibaśśõ, অশ্ম ośśõ

More languagesFewer languages

fossil in Telugu: శిలాజము śilājamu
fossil in Malayalam: ഫോസിൽ phōsil
fossil in Kannada: ಪಳೆಯುಳಿಕೆ, ಹಳೆಯುಳಿಕೆ, ಜೀವಿಗಳ ಅವಶೇಷ
fossil in Punjabi: ਜੀਵਾਸ਼ਮ, ਫੋਸਿਲ
fossil in Gujarati: જીવાશ્મ jīvāśma
fossil in Tagalog: hayto, posil
fossil in Arabic: مُسْتَحَاثَة mustaḥāṯa, أُحْفُورَة ʔuḥfūra
fossil in Malay: fosil
fossil in Indonesian: fosil
fossil in Persian: فسیل fosil, سنگواره sangvâre
fossil in Thai: ฟอสซิล fɔ́ɔt-sîl, ซากดึกดำบรรพ์ sâak-dʉ̀k-dam-ban
fossil in Vietnamese: hoá thạch

Examples of fossil in a sentence

The Burgess Shale contains fossils of very odd organisms that lived during the Acadian.
This fossil animal is regarded as the ancestor of the horse.
Glasgow will become the first university in Europe to divest from fossil fuels.

All 40 example sentences with fossil

Forms of fossil

plural	fossils

Plural of fossil: fossils

Origin of fossil

From French fossile, from Latin fossilis (“something which has been dug up”), from fodio (“to dig up”).

From the standard noun fossil, because of fossil finds in the area.

Phrases with fossil

Words that rhyme with fossil

10 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about fossil

What does fossil mean?: Fossil means the mineralized remains of an animal or plant.
What is fossil in Hindi?: Fossil in Hindi is जीवाश्म (jīvāśma). See Fossil meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is fossil?: Fossil can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce fossil?: Fossil is pronounced /ˈfɒsl̩/ (UK).
What is the plural of fossil?: The plural of fossil is fossils.

Words near fossil in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-fossil.ogg.

Cite this entry: “fossil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fossil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.