Make Your Point: CALCIFY

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pronounce CALCIFY:

CAL siff eye

Hear it.

connect this word to others:

As we'll see in a moment, calcify traces back to a Latin word meaning "small stone."

Speaking of small stones, see if you can recall a word that derives from the Latin word for "pebble," scrupulus: a scr____ is is a bothersome little twinge of moral doubt that makes you hesitate before you act, wondering whether you're doing the right thing.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

Like the words "chalk" and "calcium," the word "calcify" comes from the Latin calx, meaning "small stone, lime, or limestone."

Lime, or limestone, is a type of sedimentary rock:

So, when something calcifies, literally, it turns into limestone: it hardens into this type of rock.

And when something calcifies figuratively, it becomes hard and rigid, as if it's solidifying into a rock.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

It's a verb. It can be the transitive kind ("She calcified her feelings") and the intransitive kind ("Her feelings calcified").

Other forms:

calcified, calcifying, calcification

how to use it:

Pick the startling, semi-common, scientific-sounding word "calcify" when you want to emphasize how someone's tastes, habits, feelings, attitudes, plans, or methods have become inhumanly, unnaturally hard and rigid. Say that they've calcified.

In effect, you're comparing them to a rock, a statue, a seashell, a skeleton, or a fossil, but with a precision that's detached and scientific, focused on the chemical substance rather than any meaningful object.

examples:

"Now I'm hard. Too hard to know.
I don't cry when I'm sad anymore, no, no.
Tears calcify in my tummy."
— Fiona Apple, "Left Alone," The Idler Wheel, 2012

"With each month of silence that passed between them, she felt the silence itself calcify, and become a hard and hulking statue, impossible to defeat."
— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah, 2013

"Some of Goble's colleagues were Yankees or foreigners who'd never so much as met a black person before arriving at Langley. Others were folks from the Deep South with calcified attitudes about racial mixing."
— Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures, 2016

has this page helped you understand "calcify"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "calcify" without saying "petrify" or "harden."

try it out:

Think of some old book, movie, poem, or song, one with old, rigid, outdated ideas.

Fill in the blanks: "(Some creation) is calcified by (some outdated part)."

Example 1: "As Wikipedia explains it, the 1944 song 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' is partly calcified by its overtones of pressure and harassment."

Example 2: "In style and content 'The Jazz Singer' is undeniably a period piece, schmaltzy and partly calcified by some dated dialogue."
— Catherine Rampell, New York Times, 6 December 2011

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Name that Sketchplanation!"

Check out the sketch below, created by Jono Hey at Sketchplanations.com.

Focus on the title, and see if you can come up with the word or phrase that belongs in the blurry spot. It'll be one we've studied before.

See the answer on the original Sketchplanation!

And if you like, review the word here.

review this word:

1. Opposites of CALCIFIED include

A. ICED, FROZEN, and CONGEALED.
B. SOFTENED, LIQUEFIED, and ADAPTED.
C. LIGHTENED, SHATTERED, and EXPLODED.

2. As a writing tutor, I help teenagers _____ that old calcified notion that an essay must have five paragraphs, the middle three structurally identical.

A. tame
B. slaughter
C. chip away at

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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