as in staring
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 fixating
Some teams — Stoke in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Brentford now — might find that fixating on long throw-ins works.
—
Oliver Kay, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
Threat hunts often risk tunnel vision — fixating on a single artifact or path.
—Tony Bradley, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
The trio regrouped with nearly a dozen other musicians in the studio, fixating on improvisation.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2025
In the New York Times, Schmidt—yes that same guy who was talking up AGI in April—urged Silicon Valley to stop fixating on superhuman AI, warning that the obsession distracts from building useful technology.
—Sharon Goldman, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2025
Some lottery players take their time carefully picking their tickets, fixating on the right set of numbers.
—Daniella Segura, Miami Herald, 24 Mar. 2025
Europe is right to increase defense spending, but fixating on defense budgets alone can obscure important decisions about how to best spend the money.
—Michael E. O’Hanlon, Foreign Affairs, 18 Mar. 2025
Intentionally or not, some people missed the point, fixating on whether Jews could accurately be called Semites or insisting that Arabs were also Semites — given that Arabic, like Hebrew, is a Semitic language — and therefore couldn’t be considered antisemitic.
—Asaf Elia-Shalev, Sun Sentinel, 17 Mar. 2025
The Ed Gein Story doesn’t want to leave anything to the imagination, but also wants to criticize viewers for fixating on and becoming increasingly desensitized to monstrosities.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Oliver Kay, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
Threat hunts often risk tunnel vision — fixating on a single artifact or path.
—Tony Bradley, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
The trio regrouped with nearly a dozen other musicians in the studio, fixating on improvisation.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2025
In the New York Times, Schmidt—yes that same guy who was talking up AGI in April—urged Silicon Valley to stop fixating on superhuman AI, warning that the obsession distracts from building useful technology.
—Sharon Goldman, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2025
Some lottery players take their time carefully picking their tickets, fixating on the right set of numbers.
—Daniella Segura, Miami Herald, 24 Mar. 2025
Europe is right to increase defense spending, but fixating on defense budgets alone can obscure important decisions about how to best spend the money.
—Michael E. O’Hanlon, Foreign Affairs, 18 Mar. 2025
Intentionally or not, some people missed the point, fixating on whether Jews could accurately be called Semites or insisting that Arabs were also Semites — given that Arabic, like Hebrew, is a Semitic language — and therefore couldn’t be considered antisemitic.
—Asaf Elia-Shalev, Sun Sentinel, 17 Mar. 2025
The Ed Gein Story doesn’t want to leave anything to the imagination, but also wants to criticize viewers for fixating on and becoming increasingly desensitized to monstrosities.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fixating
Verb
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His lashes are long, the eyes deep-set, large and intense, staring piercingly into you.—
Touré,
Rolling Stone,
14 Oct. 2025
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The video shows a woman seated in a window seat staring ahead while listening to the pilot’s announcement on the plane.—
Soo Kim,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Oct. 2025
Verb
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To be sure, space agencies including NASA already have several sun-gazing spacecraft stationed to watch for solar activity.—
Elizabeth Howell,
Space.com,
10 Oct. 2025
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Most weather and star-gazing apps will have them.—
Janet Loehrke,
USA Today,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
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But the cringe-comedy antics of the original NBC series landed far better in Season 3 than in Season 1, once audiences began to truly love the characters instead of just gawking at them.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025
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Nunn has a divided audience, as the Baddies show is fueled with drama, with Jerry Springer style fights to keep viewers gawking.—
Nadja Sayej,
Forbes.com,
11 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Altman stealing someone’s art and running for the door or peering through blinds in fear that Elon Musk was coming to take over OpenAI.—
Deni Ellis Béchard,
Scientific American,
9 Oct. 2025
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Gunshots slicing through the air from above sent visitors running for cover or peering out of their cars to investigate – some worried for family members inside the facility.—
Amanda Musa,
CNN Money,
25 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Shoutout to all the pocket-watching haters.—
Mirjam Swanson,
Oc Register,
17 Oct. 2025
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This season’s starting quarterback, Caleb Williams, likely wasn’t watching that game.—
Dan Wiederer,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The trade war flare-up sent the S&P 500 to its worst loss since April, and investors are eyeing a stock market rebound.—
Sheryl Estrada,
Fortune,
13 Oct. 2025
-
Martin is also eyeing roles in work created by other writers.—
Stewart Clarke,
Deadline,
12 Oct. 2025
Verb
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By observing how these everyday devices communicate, attackers can infer information about people in the environment without installing or accessing any additional equipment, making the method far easier to deploy and potentially more widespread.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Oct. 2025
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That’s why an observing program like COSMOS-Web, the largest, widest-field JWST observing program to date, is so important.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
11 Oct. 2025
Verb
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There is a gaping hole in weather balloon coverage in western Alaska — a critical shortage bedeviling US forecasts and the National Weather Service since layoffs hit the agency as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s push to shrink the federal government back in February.—
Andrew Freedman,
CNN Money,
14 Oct. 2025
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Fans, seeing the gaping hole on Connor Bedard’s wing, clamored for Demidov, and as a result, the two will always be linked.—
Mark Lazerus,
New York Times,
12 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fixating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fixating. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
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