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   fixation

   /fɪkˈseɪʃn/

   noun

   • 1. an obsessive interest in or feeling about someone or something: "our fixation with diet and fitness"
   • ▪ (in Freudian theory) 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 or process of fixing or being fixed: "sand-dune fixation"
   • ▪ the process by which some plants and microorganisms assimilate nitrogen or carbon dioxide: "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 Origin late 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).

   Scrabble Points: 18

   • F

     4

   • I

     1

   • X

     8

   • A

     1

   • T

     1

   • I

     1

   • O

     1

   • N

     1

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