fixate

American  

[fik-seyt] / ˈfɪk seɪt /

verb (used without object)

fixated, fixating

1. to obsessively concentrate one's attention (usually followed byon ).

   Take something away from someone completely and they may fixate on it.

2. 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.

3. to stabilize or become fixed.

4. to focus the eyes on an object or point.

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verb (used with object)

fixated, fixating

1. to obsessively concentrate one's attention on.

2. Psychoanalysis. to cause (one's psychosexual development) to be arrested at an early point in life.

3. 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.

4. 1. to focus (the eyes) on an object or point.

      The eye muscles ordinarily fixate the two eyes on a single target.

   2. to focus the eyes on (an object).

fixate British  

/ ˈfɪkseɪt /

verb

1. to become or cause to become fixed

2. 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

3. psychol to engage in fixation

4. informal (tr; usually passive) to obsess or preoccupy

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Etymology

Origin of fixate

First recorded in 1880–85; from Latin fix(us) “fixed, firm” ( fix ) + -ate ¹

Example Sentences

Alas, children these days spend many of their waking hours indoors, fixated on screens.

From The Wall Street Journal

So why is it this one I’m fixated on?

From Los Angeles Times

Rather than fixating on Jefferson’s quill scratches, Mr. Amar illuminates how this equality ethos resonated with America’s most profound thinkers—from the fiery eloquence of Frederick Douglass to the unyielding advocacy of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

From The Wall Street Journal

I look that way and oops, there’s Gene, doing his best impression of a fixated hyena or grizzly or something.

From Literature

Halpern's earlier research identified a distinct pattern of electrical activity in the NAc that appears right before a person begins to fixate on food and feels the urge to binge.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• haunt
• infatuate
• obsess