Word.ws English Dictionary

gracilization

gracilization noun: a reduction of bone mass as the result of evolution.

Noun

gracilization (uncountable)

  1. A reduction of bone mass as the result of evolution.
    • The last ten thousand years have witnessed a gracilization of the human cranium — and masticatory complex, in particular.2002, Peter S. Ungar, Mark Franklyn Teaford, Human Diet: Its Origin and Evolution, →ISBN, page 28
    • This early slowdown is one piece of a broader evolutionary trend known as gracilization, the tendency for modern humans to become more delicate in form. Our bones are thinner, our muscles smaller, and our faces flatter than those of earlier hominins.2025 November 27, Tibi Puiu, “This Is Why Modern Human Faces Look So Different From Neanderthals”, in ZME Science, archived from the original on 23 Feb 2026

Origin of gracilization

From gracilize + -ation or gracile + -ization.

Words that rhyme with gracilization

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about gracilization

What does gracilization mean?
Gracilization means a reduction of bone mass as the result of evolution.
What part of speech is gracilization?
Gracilization is a noun.

Words near gracilization in the dictionary

  1. gracilising
  2. gracilisuchid
  3. gracilisuchids
  4. gracilities
  5. gracility
  6. gracilization
  7. gracilize
  8. gracilized
  9. gracilizes
  10. gracilizing
  11. gracillariid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gracilization (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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