fixate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to obsessively concentrate one's attention (usually followed byon ).
Take something away from someone completely and they may fixate on it.
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Psychoanalysis. to develop a fixation; suffer an arrest in one's emotional or sexual development.
The patient fixates in an incestuous libido cycle, seeking to reconnect with an earlier aspect of her history.
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to stabilize or become fixed.
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to focus the eyes on an object or point.
verb (used with object)
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to obsessively concentrate one's attention on.
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Psychoanalysis. to cause (one's psychosexual development) to be arrested at an early point in life.
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to make stable or stationary; fix.
Using cement to fixate the cap on the head of the femur, while initially adding stability, has a chance of loosening in subsequent years.
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to focus (the eyes) on an object or point.
The eye muscles ordinarily fixate the two eyes on a single target.
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to focus the eyes on (an object).
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verb
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to become or cause to become fixed
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to direct the eye or eyes at a point in space so that the image of the point falls on the centre (fovea) of the eye or eyes
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psychol to engage in fixation
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informal (tr; usually passive) to obsess or preoccupy
Etymology
Origin of fixate
First recorded in 1880–85; from Latin fix(us) “fixed, firm” ( fix ) + -ate 1
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.
Her performance in “Vladimir” completely eschewed vanity and instead fixates on what makes this woman go off the rails.
From Los Angeles Times
He says he has been fixated on this moment from a very early age.
From BBC
As MarketWatch’s Myra P. Saefong reports, oil markets remain fixated on the threat of a U.S. attack on Iran — and this week could provide some clarity on the next move for crude prices.
From MarketWatch
And David plays Lincoln’s nemesis, Stevie Nichols, the very successful former partner of Lincoln’s late mother, upon whom the son remains perversely fixated.
From Los Angeles Times
Ethan Thornton said he got fixated on balloons at age 17—five years ago—after reading about a Google project that kept one over Puerto Rico for almost a year.
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.
