1. an obsessive interest in or feeling about someone or something: "our fixation with diet and fitness"
▪ the arresting of part of the libido at an immature stage, causing an obsessive attachment: "fixation at the oral phase might result in dependence on others"
2. the action of making something firm or stable: "sand dune fixation"
▪ the process by which some plants and microorganisms incorporate gaseous nitrogen or carbon dioxide to form nongaseous compounds: "his work on nitrogen fixation in plants"
▪ the process of preserving or stabilizing (a specimen) with a chemical substance prior to microscopy or other examination: "biopsy specimens were placed in cassettes before fixation in formalin"
3. the action of concentrating the eyes directly on something:technical"during the period of total blindness there was a complete absence of visual fixation"
Word Originlate Middle English (originally as an alchemical term denoting the process of reducing a volatile spirit or essence to a permanent bodily form): from medieval Latin fixatio(n-), from fixare (see fix).
