Definition of "ankylosis" [an•ky•lo•sis]

• Anatomy The consolidation of bones or their parts to form a single unit. (noun)
• Pathology The stiffening and immobility of a joint as the result of disease, trauma, surgery, or abnormal bone fusion. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But Marxism needs to develop; get rid of a certain ankylosis [pathological stiffening]; interpret today's conditions with an objective, scientific perspective; conduct itself like a revolutionary force and not like a psuedorevolutionary church. [applause] These are history's paradoxes."
• "Subjects must be kept in slings until union of bones has become established, and as a rule there will then exist marked ankylosis."
• "When the disease is confined to the lower tarsal bones, lameness subsides as soon as the degenerative changes are checked and ankylosis occurs."