Word.ws English Dictionary

petrifactive

/ˌpɛtɹɪˈfæktɪv/

petrifactive adjective: having the quality of converting organic matter into stone; petrifying.

Adjective

petrifactive (not comparable)

  1. Having the quality of converting organic matter into stone; petrifying.
  2. Pertaining to, or characterized by, petrifaction.
    • petrifactive changes
    • Hereof in ſubterraneous cavities, and under the earth there are many [objects resembling unicorns' horns] to be found in ſeverall parts of Germany; which are but the Lapideſcencies and petrifactive mutations of hard bodies; [...]1650, Thomas Browne, “Of Unicorns Horn”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 137

Questions about petrifactive

What does petrifactive mean?
Petrifactive means having the quality of converting organic matter into stone; petrifying.
What part of speech is petrifactive?
Petrifactive is an adjective.
How do you pronounce petrifactive?
Petrifactive is pronounced /ˌpɛtɹɪˈfæktɪv/.

Words near petrifactive in the dictionary

  1. petridophyte
  2. Petrie
  3. petrifact
  4. petrifaction
  5. petrifactions
  6. petrifactive
  7. petrifacts
  8. petrifiable
  9. petrific
  10. petrificant
  11. petrificated

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: petrifactive (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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