fixative

[ fik-suh-tiv ]

adjective

1. serving to fix; making fixed fix or permanent.

noun

1. a fixative substance, as a gummy liquid sprayed on a drawing to prevent blurring, or a solution for killing, hardening, and preserving material for microscopic study.
2. Also called fixer. Photography. a chemical substance, as sodium thiosulfate, used to promote fixation.
3. a substance that retards evaporation, as in the manufacture of perfume.

fixative

/ ˈfɪksətɪv /

adjective

1. serving or tending to fix

noun

1. a fluid usually consisting of a transparent resin, such as shellac, dissolved in alcohol and sprayed over drawings to prevent smudging
2. cytology a fluid, such as formaldehyde or ethanol, that fixes tissues and cells for microscopic study
3. a substance added to a liquid, such as a perfume, to make it less volatile

Other Words From

• un·fixa·tive adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fixative¹

First recorded in 1635–45; fix + -ative

Example Sentences

Those prospective jurors who weren’t chosen to judge Trump spoke with reporters and told us of their fixative interest in seeing a man who causes visceral reactions, both good and bad, from so many people.

From Salon

Dr. Brecht and his colleagues were fortunate enough to gain access to a trove of elephant brains from animals that had died of natural causes or were euthanized for health reasons and ended up either frozen or in a fixative substance at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin.

From New York Times

“The enlarged photos were printed on paper without fixative,” according to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, which later displayed pictures of the work, “so that the displayed images vanished when the gallery lights went on, suggesting the complex and tentative nature of the visibility that women’s issues, women’s art, and indeed women themselves, as flesh-and-blood people rather than goddesses, had begun to have at that time in the public sphere.”

From Washington Post

Whale oil was in frenzied demand as fuel and lubricant, and ambergris, a byproduct of the animal’s digestive process, as a fixative for perfumes.

From New York Times

Two teeth showed evidence of sclareolide, a compound found in Salvia plants that has antibacterial and antifungal properties, and is currently used as an aroma fixative in the perfume industry.

From Science Magazine