fixate

[fik-seyt]

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.

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

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of fixate¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of fixate¹

C19: from Latin fixus fixed + _-ate ¹

Example Sentences

Back in my kitchen, my eyes fixated on the birch, its yellow-brown leaves clinging to its large, twisted frame.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

On a recent episode, a 19-year-old guest observed that it seemed odd for a man his age to be so fixated on the “intricate details” of college women’s lives.

Read more on Salon

Some think the floundering and flawed heroine, who's fixated with her weight and relationship status, is not the best role model.

Read more on BBC

Hauser presented a few scenarios that could emerge over the coming months, but his speech fixated on the issues of higher-than-expected inflation, weak productivity growth and diminished spare capacity.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Television writers, most of whom are men, have long fixated on the perceived trauma inherent to pregnant people pushing a fully formed human from their bodies.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• haunt 
• infatuate 
• obsess