petrification

«petrification» in Mova's school dictionary: The process by which a dead plant or animal slowly turns… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (petrification, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) (science) The process by which a dead plant or animal slowly turns into stone over a very long time, as minerals replace it: petrified wood. tree →

2) Being so frightened that you cannot move (usually "petrified"). tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons on fossils and rocks, petrification turns wood into stone, as in the Petrified Forest in Arizona. In stories, a monster like Medusa causes petrification, turning people to stone. In everyday talk, "I was petrified" means very scared.

examples

• Petrification turned the ancient tree into stone. tree →
• The fossil shows petrification of the bones. tree →
• Petrification takes millions of years. tree →
• In the myth, Medusa's stare caused petrification. tree →
• We saw petrified wood that looked like a log but was stone. tree →
• Minerals in water cause petrification. tree →

note

Uncountable. Verb: petrify; adjective: petrified (turned to stone, or very scared). Spelled petrification, not "petrifaction" (an older variant is "petrifaction", also correct).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «petrification» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.