fixate
to obsessively concentrate one's attention (usually followed by on): Take something away from someone completely and they may fixate on it.
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.
to stabilize or become fixed.
to focus the eyes on an object or point.
to obsessively concentrate one's attention on.
Psychoanalysis. to cause (one's psychosexual development) to be arrested at an early point in life.
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.
to focus (the eyes) on an object or point: The eye muscles ordinarily fixate the two eyes on a single target.
to focus the eyes on (an object).
Origin of fixate
1Words Nearby fixate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use fixate in a sentence
Maybe that the viewer choosing to fixate on this detail isn’t the intended audience.
It was time for the ‘To All the Boys’ franchise to end | Sonia Rao | February 12, 2021 | Washington PostInstead of hailing the many ways tech is changing our lives, these critics say journalists fixate on negative stories, pursuing hit pieces and takedowns that serve their own agenda.
Tech and crypto funder Andreessen Horowitz wants to replace the media. Is that bad news? | Jeff Roberts | January 20, 2021 | FortuneIt’s difficult to find relief from stressors if your mind is constantly fixating on and recirculating harmful thoughts about them.
Stressed out? Video games can help—if you follow these tips. | Stan Horazek | January 20, 2021 | Popular-ScienceRather than fixating on the details, it’s better to take a step back to look for broader patterns in the literature.
His daughter Robyn Sweet described him as a self-employed handyman in his late 50s who lives in rural Virginia and became increasingly fixated with conspiracy theories after Barack Obama was elected president.
Here are some of the people charged since a mob breached the Capitol | Washington Post Staff | January 15, 2021 | Washington Post
You can fixate your brain on "Potent Potables" for five progressively harder questions, then on "Kings of England" for five more.
How I Taught Arthur Chu to Be the ‘Jeopardy!’ Champ Everyone Loves to Hate | Keith Williams | February 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTPerhaps it takes a motivation of that kind for a man to fixate on something the way Scannon does.
Will These Men Ever Come Home? The Search for Missing WWII Pilots in “Vanished” | Jordan Michael Smith | November 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTI kept hoping that if I ignored him, he would get bored and fixate on someone else, like his fiancée.
Busting a Cyberstalker: How Carla Franklin Fought Back—and Triumphed | Abigail Pesta | October 12, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTAs we know, Democrats and Republicans fixate on different polls.
Math Is More Fun If You Only Count What You Like | Michael Tomasky | September 20, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTIn slower news cycles, we fixate on the playoffs or Oscar nominees.
Existences that are especially set aside to fixate and convey meanings are signs or symbols.
How We Think | John DeweyThe more we fixate it, the more its clearness and distinctness increase.
The Photoplay | Hugo MnsterbergFrom here we see the perspective to the fantastic dreams which the camera can fixate.
The Photoplay | Hugo MnsterbergThese apparently are accounted for by involuntary eye-movements which take place regardless of the effort made to fixate vision.
Visual Illusions | Matthew Luckiesh
British Dictionary definitions for fixate
/ (ˈfɪkseɪt) /
to become or cause to become fixed
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
psychol to engage in fixation
(tr; usually passive) informal to obsess or preoccupy
Origin of fixate
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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