gracilization

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noun

A reduction of bone mass as the result of evolution.

Scrabble 25
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Meanings

noungracilization (uncountable)
  1. uncountableanthropologyA reduction of bone mass as the result of evolution.

    The last ten thousand years have witnessed a gracilization of the human cranium — and masticatory complex, in particular.

    2002, Peter S. Ungar, Mark Franklyn Teaford, Human Diet: Its Origin and Evolution, →ISBN, page 28
    1 more example

    This early slowdown is one piece of a broader evolutionary trend known as gracilization, the tendency for modern humans to become more delicate in form. Our bones are thinner, our muscles smaller, and our faces flatter than those of earlier hominins.

    2025 November 27, Tibi Puiu, “This Is Why Modern Human Faces Look So Different From Neanderthals”, in ZME Science, archived from the original on 23 Feb 2026

Origin

From gracilize + -ation or gracile + -ization.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with gracilization

informationeducationlocationapplicationassociationadministrationorganizationcorporationregistrationAsianfoundationcommunicationpopulationnavigationstationaccommodationoperationpublicationvacationtransportationevaluationimplementationinstallationnation
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Cite this entry
APA

gracilization. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gracilization

MLA

“gracilization.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gracilization. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gracilization,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gracilization.

Source: gracilization on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.