🦴 To harden 🧱 To become rigid

to sclerose

1 9.5

To become fixed and not open to new ideas, often in organizations

verb
/skləˈroʊs/

Formal

: esclerotizarse

Over the years, the committee began to sclerose, making it difficult to introduce new policies.

Examples

Without fresh ideas, even creative teams can sclerose and lose their edge.
The organization began to sclerose after years of rigid policies.
If a company fails to innovate, its culture may slowly sclerose and resist necessary changes.
They fear that the system will sclerose if no changes are made.
Over time, the company's culture has sclerosed, making it difficult for new ideas to take root.
As technology evolved, the old systems began to sclerose, resisting any attempts at modernization.
His habits began to sclerose, as he refused to adapt to the changing environment around him.

Synonyms

to calcify

vsto sclerose

Formal

2 8.4

Become fixed and hard to change, especially in ideas or rules

is a broader resistance to change in organizations systems and habits

to ossify

vsto sclerose

1 9.5

Become fixed or make something fixed and refuse to change

is generally becoming rigid often gradual and systemic

Antonyms

to adapt

222 3.0

To change your behaviour or ideas to deal with new situations

How Inflexible

to ossify

1 9.5

to sclerose

Formal

1 9.5

to stiffen

2 4.8

to resist

350 2.2

to adapt

130 3.2

Surface Forms

sclerose infinitive

sclerosed past

sclerosed past participle

sclerosing present participle

scleroses third person singular

Morphology

sclerose = sclerosis (semi-transparent) = scler + ose

The figurative sense is an extension of the medical meaning 'to become hard'; the morphological relation is clear but somewhat specialized and metaphorical for general learners.

Etymology

Sclerose comes from the Greek root skleros, meaning 'hard'. That's why we also use it in a non-medical way: if a group or system scleroses, it becomes rigid and 'hard' to change.