fixation

1 an abnormal state in which development has stopped prematurely [syn: arrested development, infantile fixation, regression]

2 an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone [syn: obsession]

3 the activity of fastening something firmly in position

4 (histology) the preservation and hardening of a tissue sample to retain as nearly as possible the same relations they had in the living body [syn: fixing]

English

Etymology

From fixation.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃǝn

Noun

1. The act of fixing, or the state of being fixed or fixated.
2. The act of uniting chemically with a solid substance or in a solid form; reduction to a non-volatile condition; -- said of gaseous elements.
3. The act or process of ceasing to be fluid and becoming firm.
4. In metals, a state of resistance to evaporation or volatilization by heat.
5. A state of mind, involving obsession with a particular person, idea or thing.

Translations

• French: fixation

French

Etymology

fixer + -ation

Noun

fr-noun f

1. fixation

   Tu ferais bien de vérifier les fixations avant de partir.

Fixation may refer to the following:

In science:

• Fixation (psychology), the state in which an individual becomes obsessed with an attachment to another human, an animal, or an inanimate object
• Fixation (visual) maintaining the gaze in a constant direction
• Fixation (alchemy), one of the 12 vital alchemical processes required for transformation
• Carbon fixation, a biochemical process, usually driven by photosynthesis, whereby carbon dioxide is converted into organic compounds
• Nitrogen fixation, a process by which nitrogen is converted from its inert molecular form to a compound more readily available and useful to living organisms
• Fixation (population genetics), the state when every individual in a population has the same allele at a particular locus
• Fixation (histology) in biochemistry, histology, cell biology and pathology, the technique of preserving a specimen for microscopic study

In business and law:

• Fixation in business refers to a company's reluctance to change to suit current market conditions, thus increasing the probability that the company will make larger numbers and greater severities of poor decisions.
• Fixation in law refers to works entitled to copyright protection (e.g. music, literature, paintings, etc.). Only works fixed in a medium can be copyrighted, not the ideas behind those works.

Freudian fixation, anchorage, arrest, arrestation, arrested development, arrestment, blockage, blocking, check, clogging, closing up, closure, colonization, complex, compulsion, confirmation, constriction, cramp, craze, deep-rootedness, deep-seatedness, delay, detainment, detention, embedment, entrenchment, establishment, fascination, father fixation, fetish, fixed idea, fixedness, fixity, fixture, foot-dragging, foundation, hampering, hang-up, hindering, hindrance, holdback, holdup, hypercathexis, idee fixe, immobility, impediment, implantation, inaction, inactivity, inauguration, infantile fixation, infatuation, infixion, inhibition, initiation, installation, installment, interference, interruption, investiture, inveteracy, irresistible impulse, kick, let, libido fixation, lodgment, mania, monomania, mooring, morbid drive, mother fixation, motionlessness, negativism, nuisance value, obsession, obsessive compulsion, obstruction, obstructionism, occlusion, opposition, parent fixation, peopling, plantation, population, possession, pregenital fixation, preoccupation, prepossession, regression, repression, resistance, restraint, restriction, retardation, retardment, retreat to immaturity, ruling passion, setback, settlement, settling, squeeze, stabilization, stranglehold, stricture, suppression, thing, tic