transfix
Americanverb (used with object)
-
transfixes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
transfixed,
past participle, past
-
transfixt,
past participle, past
-
transfixing
present participle
verb
-
to render motionless, esp with horror or shock
-
to impale or fix with a sharp weapon or other device
-
med to cut through (a limb or other organ), as in amputation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
transfixsimple
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transfixessimple
-
have transfixedperfect
-
have transfixtperfect
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has transfixedperfect
-
has transfixtperfect
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am transfixingprogressive
-
are transfixingprogressive
-
is transfixingprogressive
-
have been transfixingperfect progressive
-
has been transfixingperfect progressive
Past
-
transfixedsimple
-
transfixtsimple
-
had transfixedperfect
-
had transfixtperfect
-
was transfixingprogressive
-
were transfixingprogressive
-
had been transfixingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of transfix
1580–90; < Latin trānsfīxus (past participle of trānsfīgere to pierce through), equivalent to trāns- trans- + fīg ( ere ) to pierce + -sus, variant of -tus past participle suffix
Explanation
Use the verb transfix when something makes you freeze in fascination or fear. Your belly dancing moves might transfix your dance recital audience. You might describe the way the last minutes of a scary movie transfix your whole family, leaving them on the edge of their seats, or how the photographs in a gallery transfix you with their beauty. The word comes from transfixus, "impaled" in Latin, which in turn is rooted in trans, "through or across," and figere, "to fasten."
Vocabulary lists containing transfix
Power Prefix: trans-
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Things Fall Apart
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"Is Survival Selfish?" Vocabulary from the argument
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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.
See Examples For:
As the exhibit’s days count down, the inspired visions from Kahlo, Rivera and their contemporaries continue to transfix visitors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Over the next few days they fanned out, scanning the faces for a certain quality — one that would eventually transfix and flummox audiences in equal measure.
From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2023
The sequences are designed to transfix human viewers yet proceed without them.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 17, 2023
A sign of her charisma is that during the final tableau, as Aida and Radamès are expiring in the tomb, Amneris continues to transfix the attention: even when she isn’t singing, she dominates the stage.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 4, 2018
The changing patterns of light transfix my sight.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
This Eden is enhanced by the birth of a son, Elio, whose beauty transfixes all who see him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Iceland itself, with its stunning rock formations, crashing waterfalls and impossibly gorgeous sunsets, duly transfixes him, but that vindicates only his eyesight, not his character.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2023
The supernatural light from the window transfixes not only Augustine but a fluffy little dog on the floor, next to a letter bearing Carpaccio’s name.
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2022
While Alix transfixes an auditorium of her peers with her decision to nurse her baby onstage, Emira has to cope with a security guard who accuses her of kidnapping Briar.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 6, 2020
The flashing of white, pink, and green briefly transfixes me.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
Even though our granny was, like all people in the mountains, well acquainted with Dolly by that point, she was still transfixed.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
He was hopeless at math and likely dyslexic, but said he was utterly transfixed by music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Block described staring up at the gallery wall, transfixed by the horror.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
In an early scene in “Othello” the title character recalls in lush language how his recounting of the daring and dangerous exploits he endured as a warrior transfixed and moved his new wife, Desdemona:
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
She was, of course, transfixed by such information.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Therefore we'll parry with cloak what shafts thou shootest against us; And by our bolts transfixt, penalty due thou shalt pay.
From The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus by Sir Richard Francis Burton
Had I but once transfixt thy froward breast, How would’st thou then——I staid not for the rest; But thus half angry to the boy replide: How would’st thou then my soul of sense bereave!
From Democritus Platonissans by Henry More
From being transfixt by such a jibe Maupassant was preserved by Flaubert.
From Inquiries and Opinions by Brander Matthews
That cruel realization haunts the cash-strapped protagonist of English filmmaker Mark Jenkin’s transfixing, increasingly despairing “Rose of Nevada.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
Now, the foundations of their empire are cracking—raising questions about the once-sizzling industry’s future and transfixing Wall Street in a mix of schadenfreude and anxiety.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026
Who impressed, and who has the most to do after a transfixing opening weekend of the Six Nations?
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
Just as transfixing is the real-world back story it implies.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
As a proof of the great number of nervous filaments in the skin, no part of this tissue can be punctured with a fine needle without transfixing a nerve, and inducing pain.
From A Treatise on Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene (Revised Edition) by Calvin Cutter
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.
