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
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Over the course of Obsession's 108-minute runtime, Nikki transforms into an self-destructive, possessive, and dangerously violent shadow of her former self as Bear's spell forces her to fixate solely on her unnatural devotion to him—no matter the cost.
—Megan McCluskey, Time, 15 May 2026
Rather than fixating on what was lost or what could come next, Park made a conscious decision to focus on what was in front of her.
—Emily Cegielski, Flow Space, 11 May 2026
His older brother was a fan of their newer work, but Sandoval quickly fixated on the band’s 1960s catalog, especially their 1968 masterpiece The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 10 May 2026
But Adams had a habit of fixating on his mistakes.
—New York Daily News, 9 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for fixate
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Megan McCluskey, Time, 15 May 2026
Rather than fixating on what was lost or what could come next, Park made a conscious decision to focus on what was in front of her.
—Emily Cegielski, Flow Space, 11 May 2026
His older brother was a fan of their newer work, but Sandoval quickly fixated on the band’s 1960s catalog, especially their 1968 masterpiece The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 10 May 2026
But Adams had a habit of fixating on his mistakes.
—New York Daily News, 9 May 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 18 May. 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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