fix

Commonly used with nouns like 'date', 'time', 'price', 'meeting', and 'appointment'. The preposition 'for' often introduces the agreed detail.

Almost always appears with a preposition or adverb that indicates the location ('to', 'on', 'in', 'onto'). The bare transitive form ('fix the shelf') implies REPAIR sense without context.

The object is typically a body part or mental faculty ('eyes', 'gaze', 'attention', 'mind', 'stare'), not a person or thing directly. The preposition 'on' (or 'upon') introduces the target.

Always used with a prepositional phrase indicating the mental location ('in your mind', 'in your head', 'in your memory'). This sense is idiomatic — the physical meaning of 'fasten' is applied metaphorically to the mind.

Commonly appears in the passive voice ('was fixed', 'had been fixed') because the agent is often unknown or unnamed. The noun subject is typically an organised event: match, race, contest, game, election, or vote.

Often used with nouns for specific body parts or clothing items — hair, face, tie, collar, dress, make-up. The object names the thing being made tidy, not the person.

Can take two objects: 'fix someone something' (e.g. 'I fixed her a sandwich') or 'fix something for someone' (e.g. 'I fixed a sandwich for her'). The indirect object is the person who will eat or drink.

Almost always occurs in the progressive form 'be fixing to'. Rarely used in past perfect or simple past. Common in Southern and Midwestern American dialects; not used in British English or formal writing.

Distinguish from sense 7 (TIDY) and sense 8 (COOK): this sense takes a person as object, not a thing. The punishment is usually personal retaliation rather than formal justice.

Technical term in traditional film photography. The fixing step happens after developing and before washing. Common objects: film, negative, print, photograph. The chemical solution used is called a 'fixer'.

Technical term in biology, ecology, and chemistry. The object is almost always a specific gas — most commonly nitrogen, sometimes carbon dioxide. The noun 'fixation' is more common in academic writing (e.g. 'nitrogen fixation').

Most often used about household pets such as cats and dogs. The term is more neutral in tone than 'neuter' or 'spay' in everyday conversation.

This sense is always intransitive and highly informal slang. It refers specifically to injecting drugs with a needle, not to other methods of drug use.

More formal than the REPAIR sense of 'fix'. Common in technical, navigational, or investigative contexts where precision is required.

Almost always used in the fixed phrase 'in a fix', often with adjectives (real, terrible, awful). Never used with a possessive determiner before 'fix' in this sense ('my fix', 'his fix' means sense 4).

Often used with adjectives like 'quick', 'temporary', 'permanent', 'easy'. The preposition is 'for' when stating the problem. Distinguish from sense 2 (AWKWARD SITUATION): this sense is the solution, not the problem itself.

Highly informal slang. Almost always refers to narcotics (heroin, cocaine). Can also be used metaphorically for any strong craving (a caffeine fix, a chocolate fix) — that metaphorical use is less stigmatised.

Technical term in navigation and aviation. Often used with the verb 'take' (take a fix) or 'get' (get a fix on). Distinguish from sense 6 (DETERMINATION): this sense is the positional result itself, whereas sense 6 is the act of determining any measurement.

Uncountable when referring to the abstract process (the fix of the ship's position was difficult); countable when a specific result is meant (they took three fixes per hour). Distinguish from sense 5 (POSITION): this sense covers any measurement (size, age, depth), not just location.