fixedness

fixedness
fixedness, fixity
Both are 17c words with a range of meanings to do with abstract senses of fixing and being fixed, but fixedness is now used much less often than fixity:

• Beaten into a fixity of revolutionary purpose, the peasants will have no more of it —Times Literary Supplement, 1984

• A film that seemed able to contemplate death ends up by denying even the fixedness of character —Independent, 1990

• What distinguishes perversion is its quality of desperation and fixity —New York Times, 1991.

Fixity is the more common choice in combination with purpose:

• News must provoke restlessness, unease, mild anxiety, curiosity, hunger for more. For politicians, it is the enemy of fixity of purpose —Observer, 2000.


Modern English usage. 2014.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Fixedness — Fix ed*ness, n. 1. The state or quality of being fixed; stability; steadfastness. [1913 Webster] 2. The quality of a body which resists evaporation or volatilization by heat; solidity; cohesion of parts; as, the fixedness of gold. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • fixedness — index adherence (adhesion) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • fixedness — noun 1. remaining in place • Syn: ↑stationariness, ↑immobility • Derivationally related forms: ↑fixed, ↑immobile (for: ↑immobility), ↑stationary ( …   Useful english dictionary

  • fixedness — noun see fixed …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • fixedness — See fixedly. * * * …   Universalium

  • fixedness — noun The state or condition of being fixed …   Wiktionary

  • fixedness — n. stability, steadiness; secureness; invariability; firmness …   English contemporary dictionary

  • fixedness — fixed·ness …   English syllables

  • Functional fixedness — is a cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used. The concept of functional fixedness originated in Gestalt Psychology, a movement in psychology that emphasizes holistic processing. Karl Duncker …   Wikipedia

  • fixity — fixedness, fixity Both are 17c words with a range of meanings to do with abstract senses of fixing and being fixed, but fixedness is now used much less often than fixity: • Beaten into a fixity of revolutionary purpose, the peasants will have no… …   Modern English usage

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