fix
Americanverb (used with object)
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fixes,
present (3rd person singular)
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fixed,
past participle, past
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fixt,
past participle, past (Archaic)
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fixing
present participle
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to repair; mend.
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to put in order or in good condition; adjust or arrange.
She fixed her hair in a bun.
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to make fast, firm, or stable.
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to place definitely and more or less permanently.
to fix a circus poster to a wall.
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to settle definitely; determine.
to fix a price.
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to direct (the eyes, the attention, etc.) steadily.
His eyes were fixed on the distant ship.
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to attract and hold (the eye, the attention, etc.).
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to make set or rigid.
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to put into permanent form.
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to put or place (responsibility, blame, etc.) on a person.
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to assign or refer to a definite place, time, etc.
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to provide or supply with (something needed or wanted).
How are you fixed for money?
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Informal. to arrange or influence the outcome or action of, especially privately or dishonestly.
to fix a jury; to fix a game.
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to get (a meal); prepare (food).
What time shall I fix supper?
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Informal. to put in a condition or position to make no further trouble.
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Informal. to get even with; get revenge upon.
I'll fix him!
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Informal. to castrate or spay (an animal, especially a pet).
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Chemistry.
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to make stable in consistency or condition; reduce from fluidity or volatility to a more stable state.
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to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a useful compound, as a nitrate fertilizer.
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Photography. to render (an image) permanent by removing light-sensitive silver halides.
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Microscopy. to kill, make rigid, and preserve for microscopic study.
verb (used without object)
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fixes,
present (3rd person singular)
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fixed,
past participle, past
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fixt,
past participle, past (Archaic)
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fixing
present participle
-
to become fixed.
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to become set; assume a rigid or solid form.
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to become stable or permanent.
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to settle down.
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Slang. to inject oneself with a narcotic.
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Chiefly Southern U.S. to prepare; plan (usually followed by an infinitive).
I was just fixing to call you. We're fixing to go to Colorado this summer.
noun
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fixes
plural
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Informal. a position from which it is difficult to escape; predicament.
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Informal. a repair, adjustment, or solution, usually of an immediate nature.
Can you think of a fix for the problem?
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Navigation.
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a charted position of a vessel or aircraft, determined by two or more bearings taken on landmarks, heavenly bod-ies, etc.
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the determining of the position of a ship, plane, etc., by mathematical, electronic, or other means.
The navigator took a fix on the sun and steered the ship due north.
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a clear determination.
Can you get a fix on what he really means?
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Slang.
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an injection of heroin or other narcotic.
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the narcotic or amount of narcotic injected.
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a compulsively sought dose or infusion of something.
to need one's daily fix of soap operas on TV.
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Slang.
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an underhand or illegal arrangement, especially one secured through bribery or influence.
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a contest, situation, etc., whose outcome is prearranged dishonestly.
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verb phrase
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fix on / upon to decide on; determine.
We won't be able to fix on a location for the banquet until we know the number of guests.
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fix up
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to arrange for.
to fix up a date.
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to provide with; furnish.
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to repair; renew.
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to smooth over; solve.
They weren't able to fix up their differences.
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idioms
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fix one's wagon, to exact retribution for an offense; treat someone vengefully.
I'll dock his pay and that will fix his wagon.
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in a fix, pregnant.
verb
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(also intr) to make or become firm, stable, or secure
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to attach or place permanently
fix the mirror to the wall
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(often foll by up) to settle definitely; decide
let us fix a date
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to hold or direct (eyes, attention, etc) steadily
he fixed his gaze on the woman
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to call to attention or rivet
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to make rigid
to fix one's jaw
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to place or ascribe
to fix the blame on someone
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to mend or repair
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informal to provide with
how are you fixed for supplies?
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informal to influence (a person, outcome of a contest, etc) unfairly, as by bribery
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slang to take revenge on; get even with, esp by killing
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informal to give (someone) his just deserts
that'll fix him
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informal to arrange or put in order
to fix one's hair
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informal to prepare
to fix a meal
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dialect to spay or castrate (an animal)
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dialect to prepare oneself
I'm fixing to go out
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photog to treat (a film, plate, or paper) with fixer to make permanent the image rendered visible by developer
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cytology to kill, preserve, and harden (tissue, cells, etc) for subsequent microscopic study
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to convert (atmospheric nitrogen) into nitrogen compounds, as in the manufacture of fertilizers or the action of bacteria in the soil
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to convert (carbon dioxide) into organic compounds, esp carbohydrates, as occurs in photosynthesis in plants and some microorganisms
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to reduce (a substance) to a solid or condensed state or a less volatile state
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slang (intr) to inject a drug
noun
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informal a predicament; dilemma
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the ascertaining of the navigational position, as of a ship, by radar, observation, etc
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slang an intravenous injection of a drug, esp heroin
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informal an act or instance of bribery
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To convert inorganic carbon or nitrogen into stable, organic compounds that can be assimilated into organisms. Photosynthetic organisms such as green plants fix carbon in carbohydrates as food; certain bacteria fix nitrogen as ammonia that can be absorbed directly or through nitrification by plant roots.
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See more at carbon fixation nitrogen fixation
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To convert a substance, especially a gas, into solid or liquid form by chemical reactions.
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To kill and preserve a tissue specimen rapidly to retain as nearly as possible the characteristics it had in the living body.
Usage
Fix meaning “to repair” appears to have been used first in America, but it is long established and has been used in England since the early 19th century: The engineer quickly fixed the faulty valve. The verb use is fully standard in all varieties of speech and writing, and objections to it on the grounds of style merely reflect personal prejudice, not the practice of educated speakers and writers. The noun fix meaning “repair, adjustment” is informal. Fix ( to ) meaning “to prepare, plan (to)” is another Americanism: We're fixing to go to town. It once occurred in all the eastern coastal states, but it is now chiefly an informal spoken form in the South Midland and South.
Synonym Usage
Fix, establish imply making firm or permanent. To fix is to fasten in position securely or to make more or less permanent against change, especially something already existing: to fix a bayonet on a gun; fix a principle in one's mind. To establish is to make firm or permanent something (usually newly) originated, created, or ordained: to establish a business, a claim to property.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fixsimple
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fixessimple
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have fixedperfect
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have fixtperfect
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has fixedperfect
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has fixtperfect
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am fixingprogressive
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are fixingprogressive
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is fixingprogressive
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have been fixingperfect progressive
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has been fixingperfect progressive
Past
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fixedsimple
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fixtsimple
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had fixedperfect
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had fixtperfect
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was fixingprogressive
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were fixingprogressive
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had been fixingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fix
First recorded in 1350–1400; (verb) Middle English fixen, from Middle French fixer or Medieval Latin fixāre, derivative of Latin fixus “fixed,” past participle of fīgere “to fasten”
Vocabulary lists containing fix
"Ain't I a Woman?"
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Unit 3, Small-Group Learning
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Selection Vocabulary 4, Unit 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“But the truth is … I was not able to fix it by myself, so I needed some help.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
It was the most indebted of its peers at the beginning of this year, and new management had already pledged to fix that by selling assets and halting stock buybacks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
It said it was working hard to fix the issue as quickly as possible.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
“The longer we wait to fix Social Security, the more expensive it will be for all of us,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
“If you don’t get rid of that net, young man, you’re going to be in a worse fix than Gandy is. Now, you better believe that.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Lucy Qin, a postdoc at Georgetown University who researches privacy, pushed back against this framing: “Shorter-term fixes can band-aid the immediate problem but do not address a long-term pattern,” she said.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
For Leon Berkers, whose restaurant boat has been stuck in the mud for more than a month, adaptation has so far meant improvising fixes to keep "pots and pans from flying around."
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Burris Duncan will use AI for easy fixes, but she isn’t ready to change her brakes or tinker with her engine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
Anthropic added that it is "approaching the fixes as if the responsibility were ours alone."
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Sometimes Etienne comes down grumbling, one shoe on, and the whole kitchen goes quiet while Madame Manec fixes his tea and sets it on a tray and Etienne carries it back upstairs.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Notes: Gage levels are measured relative to a fixed reference point.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Julia Bączek emphasizes that past experiences can be processed differently over time, rather than remaining fixed and unchangeable.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026
The domestic emoluments clause provides for the president to receive a fixed salary and bars him from receiving “Any other emolument from the United States or any of them.”
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
It says an inquest, for which a date is yet to be fixed, is due to open into his death.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
My eyes fixed on the farmer’s grim, rugged face.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
How grows their beauty, when two lovers stand Eye fixt on eye, hand fondly linkt in hand!
From The Birth of the War-God A Poem by Kalidasa by Kalidasa
The baker's boy brings muffins to the window at a fixt hour every day, and that is all the Londoner knows or wishes to know on the subject.
From The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. IX (of X) - America - I by Henry Cabot Lodge
Accordingly a day was fixt for that purpose, and the Craiglands-croft was the place appointed for this probation of soldiership.
From Ringan Gilhaize or The Covenanters by John Galt
Why do those Eyes, Loves Tapers, that on whomsoe'er they are fixt, kindle straight Desire, now seem to Nod, and Wink, and hardly Glimmer in their Sockets?
From The Female Wits by Anonymous
His mallice is fixt, and will not evaporate by any your mild courses.
From Great Ralegh by Hugh de Selincourt
“It’s been fun fixing minor annoyances,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
A woman has criticised Anglian Water for imposing a hosepipe ban while not fixing a water leak that she had reported "weeks ago".
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Yet in a bizarre case of fixing something that does not need fixing, the program became the one CBS property executives chose to radically remake.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
“While it is good that Honeywell Aerospace recognizes that it has problems, fixing them will not be an overnight affair,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
“Dad’s almost finished fixing up the spare room. And you know what that means!”
From "Trouble at the Arcade (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #1)" by Franklin W. Dixon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
