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fixate

[fik-seyt]
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verb (used with object), fix·at·ed, fix·at·ing.
  1. to fix; make stable or stationary.
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verb (used without object), fix·at·ed, fix·at·ing.
  1. to become fixed.
  2. Psychoanalysis. to develop a fixation; suffer an arrest in one's emotional or sexual development.
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Origin of fixate

1880–85; < Latin fix(us) fixed, firm (see fix) + -ate1
Related formsun·fix·at·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

haunt, obsess, infatuate, direct

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British Dictionary definitions for fixated

fixate

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

C19: from Latin fixus fixed + -ate 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fixated

fixate

v.

1885, "to fix, make stable," from fix (v.) + -ate. Meaning "to gaze upon" is from 1889. Psychological sense is from 1926, originally in Freudian theory, in this case perhaps a back-formation from fixation. Related: Fixated; fixating.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
fixated in Medicine

fixate

(fĭk′sāt′)
v.
  1. To make fixed, stable, or stationary.
  2. To focus one's eyes or attention on something.
  3. To develop a fixation; become excessively attached to a person or thing.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.