fixation

(fik-sā′shŏn)

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[L. fixatio, fixed state]

1. The act of holding or fastening in a rigid position. The act of immobilizing or making rigid.
2. Rigidity or immobility.
3. A phase of Freudian psychosexual development in which the libido is arrested at an early or presexual level.
4. Staining of microscopic specimens for examination.
5. The process of making a film-recorded image permanent.
6. In population genetics, the complete expression of a mutant allele in a community, the presence of the mutant allele in every member of that community.

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