fixated; fixating
1
: to focus or concentrate one's gaze or attention intently or obsessively
… he was fixating on the airport in the distance, trying to find the assigned runway.—
Richard L. Collins
Richard L. Collins… the tourist mind tended to fixate on ice cream cones …—T. Coraghessan Boyle
T. Coraghessan Boyle2
: to undergo arrestment at a stage of development
1
: to make fixed, stationary, or unchanging
2
: to focus one's gaze on
3
: to direct (the libido) toward an infantile form of gratification
Examples of fixate in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The brother of one of the men who was killed in the speedboat incident said his sibling was fixated on overthrowing Cuba's government.
—CBS News, 6 Mar. 2026
He’s haunted by the specter of aging — apparent in Styles’s fixating on wellness in interviews and roasting his own hairline on Brittany Broski’s Royal Court — and has hinted at private anguish over the death of One Direction’s Liam Payne.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2026
And the case of the kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy, has been one of the things the collective internet has fixated on for the last month or so.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 26 Feb. 2026
The district is deeply working class, Wild says, but to fixate on that is too narrow.
—Julia Terruso, Time, 23 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for fixate
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CBS News, 6 Mar. 2026
He’s haunted by the specter of aging — apparent in Styles’s fixating on wellness in interviews and roasting his own hairline on Brittany Broski’s Royal Court — and has hinted at private anguish over the death of One Direction’s Liam Payne.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2026
And the case of the kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy, has been one of the things the collective internet has fixated on for the last month or so.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 26 Feb. 2026
The district is deeply working class, Wild says, but to fixate on that is too narrow.
—Julia Terruso, Time, 23 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for fixate
Cite this Entry
“Fixate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fixate. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
fixate
verb
fix·ate
ˈfik-ˌsāt 
fixated; fixating
1
: to focus one's gaze on
2
: to direct (the libido) toward an infantile form of gratification
1
: to focus or concentrate one's gaze or attention
an infant with normal vision … will fixate on a light held before him—The Journal of the American Medical Association
The Journal of the American Medical Association2
: to undergo arrestment at a stage of development
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