kənˈjēl, esp bef pause or cons -ēəl verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English congelen, from Middle French congeler, from Latin congelare, from com- + gelare to freeze — more at cold
transitive verb
1. : to change from a fluid to a solid state by or as if by cold
congealed the water into ice
: freeze
tundra congealed forever by the arctic cold
2.
a. : to make (a liquid) viscid or of a consistency like jelly : curdle , coagulate
b. obsolete : to make (a liquid) solid or crystalline
3. : to make rigid or inflexible : freeze into a pattern or system
congealing the speculations of Aristotle into authoritarian dogma
: make immobile : paralyze
a density of two hundred people to the acre would even further congeal traffic — Lewis Mumford
intransitive verb
1. : to grow hard, stiff, or thick from cold or other causes : freeze , coagulate
oil congeals in cold weather
2.
a. of a sentiment : to lose all warmth
his passion for the ballerina soon congealed
b. : to assume a fixed, rigid, or unchanging form or character
saw … factions cleaving classes and classes congealing into castes — Will Durant
thought lost its vivacity, congealing into a closed system