fix

Less common meanings

8. 8
   rig (contest)verbtransitive

   To dishonestly arrange the outcome of a contest, vote, or gamble in advance, often by bribery, so one side is unfairly favored.

   Investigators believe someone tried to fix the championship final.

   The promoter fixed the title bout to protect his investment.

   UsageCommon in fix a match, fix an election; the result is then fixed.

   Similarrig, manipulate

9. 9
   rigged resultnouncountable

   A prearrangement of the result of a supposedly fair competition, such as a game, election, or trial.

   Reporters exposed the race as a fix orchestrated by team owners.

   The trial was a fix from the start, the verdict already agreed.

   UsageSet phrase: the fix is in, meaning the result is already arranged.

   Similarsetup, sham, fraud, swindle

   Note

   Howard Saul Becker's Outsiders (1963) quotes a professional thief: "You can tell by the way the case is handled in court when the fix is in." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Howard Saul Becker wrote Outsiders, first published in 1963. archive.org
   • Outsiders quotes a professional thief using exactly this wording. api.pageplace.de
10. 10
    pet surgeryverbcolloquialUStransitive

    To surgically sterilize an animal, especially a pet, so it can no longer reproduce.

    Most shelters fix every animal before putting it up for adoption.

    The vet fixed our kitten last week.

    UsageOften with get or have: get the cat fixed. In formal writing, use spay or neuter.

    Similarneuter, sterilize, spay

11. 11
    troublenouncountable

    A difficult situation; a predicament or dilemma.

    Losing the contract left the company in a serious fix.

    She found herself in a fix, owing money she couldn't repay.

    UsageUsually in a fix: be in a fix, get into a fix.

    Similartrouble, predicament, jam, difficulty, dilemma

    Note

    Delos W. Lovelace's King Kong (1932) asks, "How come you're in this fix?" The usual frame is in a fix, often strengthened to in a real fix or in a terrible fix, and getting out of one takes luck, help or quick thinking.

12. 12
    drug dosenounslangcountable

    A single dose of a narcotic drug, especially one taken by injection.

    By noon his hands were shaking, and he knew he needed a fix.

    Dealers on that corner sold a fix to anyone with cash.

    UsageUsually need a fix or get a fix.

    Similardose, hit, shot

    Note

    Burroughs's Junkie (1953) wonders whether yage "may be the final fix," and Ministry's 1992 song "Just One Fix" turns the craving into a chant. The figurative senses of craving and thrill grow from here. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • William Burroughs's Junkie was first published in 1953. raunerlibrary.blogspot.com
    • Junkie contains the quoted speculation about yage. en.wiktionary.org
    • Ministry's song Just One Fix dates to 1992. en.wikipedia.org
    • The figurative senses involving craving and thrill extend the narcotic-dose sense. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    take revengeverbcolloquialtransitive

    To take revenge on someone, or to get even with and punish a presumed wrongdoer.

    He swore he would fix the man who cheated him.

    He swore he would fix the guy who stole his car.

    UsageOften a threat: I'll fix him, I'll fix you.

    Similarpunish, get

14. 14
    photographyverbtransitive

    To make a photographic image permanent by treating it so it no longer reacts to light.

    In the darkroom, we fix each print before turning on the lights.

    He fixed the print in a bath of sodium thiosulfate.

15. 15
    understandingnouncountable

    An understanding or mental grasp of something.

    Analysts struggled to get a fix on the shifting market.

    After the briefing, the team had a clear fix on the plan.

    UsageUsually get a fix on something or have a fix on it.

    Similarhandle, grasp, grip, read

16. 16
    locationnouncountable

    A determination of one's position made with instruments or by reference to known landmarks, or a landmark used for this.

    The navigator obtained a fix shortly before the fog rolled in.

    A satellite fix placed the boat ten miles off course.

    UsageUsually get a fix or take a fix, often on a position.

    Similarposition

17. 17
    inject drugsverbslangintransitive

    To inject a narcotic drug into oneself.

    Addicts would fix wherever they could find a quiet corner.

    He fixed twice a day just to keep the sickness away.

    Similarinject, shoot

    Note

    William S. Burroughs, writing as William Lee in Junkie (1953), describes a place where junkies can "fix in the joint and walk out clean." The same world supplies the noun for a single dose. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • William S. Burroughs published Junkie under the pen name William Lee. en.wikipedia.org
    • Junkie was first published in 1953. escholarship.org
    • The quoted words occur in the book's description of a place where junkies can inject drugs. en.wiktionary.org
18. 18
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To pierce or impale, as with a sharp weapon.

    Note

    The oldest picture in the word is a spike being driven home. Latin fīgō meant "to drive in, stick, fasten," from a root for jabbing that dig is also related to. To fix a man with a lance was simply to run him through. That use has died out, and for impaling modern English says transfix, which keeps the old sense alive inside the longer word. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Latin fīgō meant to drive in, stick, or fasten. en.wiktionary.org
    • Fīgō derives from a root meaning to jab or stick. en.wiktionary.org
    • Dig is etymologically related to fix. en.wiktionary.org
    • Fix formerly meant to pierce, supporting the explanation of fixing someone with a lance. en.wiktionary.org
    • Transfix preserves the ancestral piercing sense of fīgō. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    verbarchaic

    To become settled, to remain permanently in place, or to come to rest after wandering.

    A cheerless place! the solitary Bee, Whose buzzing was the only sound of life, Flew there on restless wing, Seeking in vain one blossom, where to fix.

    1801, Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer
20. 20
    verbobsolete

    To become firm and cease to flow, congealing or hardening, as a molten metal does on cooling.

    quicksilver will fix, so asto endure the hammer

    1627, Francis [Bacon], Sylua Syluarum
21. 21
    verb

    To map a point or subset onto itself, leaving it unchanged under the transformation.
22. 22
    verb

    In chess, to halt an enemy pawn's advance by directly opposing it with one of one's own pawns, threatening any backward pawns left behind.
23. 23
    nounUS

    A mixture of material used to line or repair the bottom and walls of a furnace.