fossil
noun
Simple meaning
The mineralized remains of an animal or plant.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fahsuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɑsəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The mineralized remains of an animal or plant.
The remains (or an impression) of a plant or animal that existed in a past geological age and that has been excavated from the soil
paleontology
Any preserved evidence of ancient life, including shells, imprints, burrows, coprolites, and organically-produced chemicals.
figuratively
Anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The mineralized remains of an animal or plant.
Used this way, fossil is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- archeological remains , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fossil
- “They discovered a dinosaur fossil embedded in the rock.”
Share your sentence
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: mineralized remains of an animal or plant
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “fossil” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.