fixate

verb

fix·​ate ˈfik-ˌsāt 

fixated; fixating

intransitive verb

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

… the tourist mind tended to fixate on ice cream cones …

—T. Coraghessan Boyle

2

: to undergo arrestment at a stage of development

transitive verb

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

Meyer makes space to laugh, look around, and fixate on the wrong object. — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 12 Aug. 2026

Having entered the business in the 1970s and shepherded clients through the post-2000 tech-wreck and then the global financial crisis, he has lately been fixated on the prospect that the secular bull market that began in 2009 is in its waning phase. — Michael Santoli, CNBC, 10 Aug. 2026

OpenAI's subsequent review of the incident found that its models were fixated on gaming the test and spent substantial effort getting around barriers rather than working within them. — Craig S. Smith, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 2026

In the eighteenth century, while Russia fixated on conquering Eurasia, Britain developed the steam engine; in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, while Europeans fought over Africa, Americans mastered the assembly line. — Evan Osnos, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

probably back-formation from fixation, in part as translation of German fixieren

First Known Use

1885, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for fixate

• abate
• airfreight
• await
• baseplate
• berate
• birthdate
• birthrate
• bookplate
• borate
• breastplate
• bromate
• casemate

Medical Definition

fixate

verb

fix·​ate ˈfik-ˌsāt 

fixated; fixating

transitive verb

1

: to focus one's gaze on

2

: to direct (the libido) toward an infantile form of gratification

intransitive verb

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

2

: to undergo arrestment at a stage of development