as in gazes
to look at or think about something constantly; to give all of your attention to something
—usually + on or upon
The cat was fixated on a small hole in the wall. Why do journalists fixate on scandals?
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Recent Examples of fixates
Of course, the internet fixates on the moment, with many TikTok commenters focussing on the age difference between Aaron and his step-daughters Angelica and Jessie Jopling.
—
Glamour, 1 Feb. 2026
When a person fixates on a target, their retina captures visual information and sends it to the brain via the optic nerve.
—Big Think, 29 Jan. 2026
Annie, who was abandoned by her mother, fixates on the idea of finding her once again.
—Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
Her character, Agnes, is introduced to these ideas after connecting with Peter, a Gulf War veteran who fixates on a bug problem in her hotel room as part of a larger theory about surveillance.
—Caitlin Huston, HollywoodReporter, 5 Jan. 2026
Who would blame them for assuming that a woman who fixates on where her novels are placed at an airport bookstore cares about money and material things?
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Nov. 2025
The video shows Zarutska sit in a seat in front of Brown, who fixates on her and after several minutes pulls out a knife and stabs her several times in the neck, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
—Danielle Battaglia, Charlotte Observer, 8 Sep. 2025
During a hospital stay, Roy’s enfeebled mother fixates on the caste and religious affiliations of the doctors treating her—the sort of thing that will be familiar to anyone who has cringed at a diminished elder’s unfiltered prejudices.
—Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2025
Glamour, 1 Feb. 2026
When a person fixates on a target, their retina captures visual information and sends it to the brain via the optic nerve.
—Big Think, 29 Jan. 2026
Annie, who was abandoned by her mother, fixates on the idea of finding her once again.
—Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
Her character, Agnes, is introduced to these ideas after connecting with Peter, a Gulf War veteran who fixates on a bug problem in her hotel room as part of a larger theory about surveillance.
—Caitlin Huston, HollywoodReporter, 5 Jan. 2026
Who would blame them for assuming that a woman who fixates on where her novels are placed at an airport bookstore cares about money and material things?
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Nov. 2025
The video shows Zarutska sit in a seat in front of Brown, who fixates on her and after several minutes pulls out a knife and stabs her several times in the neck, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
—Danielle Battaglia, Charlotte Observer, 8 Sep. 2025
During a hospital stay, Roy’s enfeebled mother fixates on the caste and religious affiliations of the doctors treating her—the sort of thing that will be familiar to anyone who has cringed at a diminished elder’s unfiltered prejudices.
—Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fixates
Verb
-
Tuxedoed servers wear playing-card pins on their lapels; a slot machine in the entryway shaped like a life-size Doc Holliday gazes at diners with uncanny intensity.—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
1 Mar. 2026
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Curving around the glistening, glacial Sarmiento Lake, an amphitheater of rooms gazes up at the Paine massif, with scenes constantly shifting depending on the time of day.—
Sarah Marshall,
Condé Nast Traveler,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
People can be seen running along the top of the bus and sitting on the front bumper as the driver stares glumly ahead from inside windows tagged with graffiti.—
Clara Harter,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Mar. 2026
-
Washington stares blankly at the ceiling, over and over.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
18 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The hiring spree comes as the company shifts more aggressively toward enterprise sales and tries to regain momentum against Anthropic and Google, and as the company eyes a possible IPO within the next 12 months.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
24 Mar. 2026
-
Subsequently, the filmmaker became enamored with airplanes and transferred that same fascination onto Lil Ant, who eyes the planes overhead with palpable yearning and, at one point, shoplifts a toy plane from a store.—
Vikram Murthi,
IndieWire,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
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On the final day of the festival, The Observer is hosting an event with debut novelists the paper considers to be rising stars of fiction.—
Irenie Forshaw,
TheWeek,
26 Mar. 2026
-
Millet considers the first run of Theatre Obscure to be an experiment in how much touch and scent audiences may want to endure.—
Todd Martens,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
For instance, a Georgia that permanently observes daylight saving time would be two hours earlier than neighboring Alabama and Tennessee, which would still observe Central Standard Time.—
Dan Raby,
CBS News,
23 Mar. 2026
-
The cake at a birthday party is the tradition that nearly everyone observes.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Through her work, Amon-Higa now watches as bonds blossom daily – like the unexpected relationship between Dakota, a non-verbal boy, and Ginger, an extroverted miniature pig.—
Avani Kumar,
Mercury News,
26 Mar. 2026
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As the crowd watches, a surf coach makes a split-second choice.—
Ronnie Li,
USA Today,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Straitjacketed inside the inescapable present, Pearl gapes up to discover that her husband, Walker, has found her; Walker was always going to find her.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
But spotting when a star blinks for a fraction of a second as an asteroid passes in front of it from our perspective on Earth is incredibly challenging.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Nobody seems to believe in Detroit in the postseason yet, which is partly a result of the Pistons not having won a playoff series since (checks notes) … (blinks and checks notes a second time) … 2008, and partly a result of legitimate questions about their iffy perimeter shooting.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
3 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fixates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fixates. Accessed 30 Mar. 2026.
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