transfix
transfix verb: to render motionless, by arousing terror, amazement or awe.
Verb
transfix (third-person singular simple present transfixes, present participle transfixing, simple past and past participle transfixed)
- To render motionless, by arousing terror, amazement or awe.
- He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the...1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
- But we may as well accept her story as true, for it is likely she would have been transfixed by the narcissism of the weight lifters.1973, Norman Mailer, Marilyn: A Biography, page 45
- To pierce with a sharp pointed weapon.
- The spear transfixed my arm that was uplifted
In swift expostulation, and the blood
Gushed round its point: I smiled, […]1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC... - There was a little stream that ran not far away, in which he bathed, and down this on occasion would come a shoal of fish. Then the natives would assemble with spears, and with much shouting would transfix the great startled things as they hurried down to the sea.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 52”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC
- The spear transfixed my arm that was uplifted
- To fix or impale.
Noun
transfix (plural transfixes)
- A discontinuous affix, typical of Afro-Asiatic languages, which occurs at more than one position in a word, i.e. a combination of prefixes, infixes and/or suffixes.
- The Arabic word مكتوب (maktūb, “written”) is built from the root [script needed] (k–t–b, “writing”) and the transfix [script needed] (ma––ū–, “passive participle”).
transfix meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and Malayalam
transfix in Tamil
- துளைத்துத்துளைத்தல்
transfix in Urdu
- چبھونا
transfix in Telugu
- to transfix
- నాటు nāṭu
transfix in Malayalam
- ഭയാദികൊണ്ടു സ്തംഭിപ്പിക്കുക, കുത്തിത്തുളയ്ക്കുക, ചിന്തിക്കാനോ അനങ്ങാനോ വയ്യാതാകുക
More languagesFewer languages
- transfix in Kannada
- ಚುಚ್ಚು, ಇರಿ, ತಿವಿ, ಭೇದಿಸು
Examples of transfix in a sentence
- Wherever sequential alphabets gained power, cultures became more transfixed by linear time.
- We explore the stories because they are transfixing stories, dense and compelling.
- Stands of ciboa darken the valleys, and massive tabbas, wide around as Big Ben, transfix the hilltops.
Forms of transfix
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | transfixes |
| present participle | transfixing |
| past participle | transfixed |
| past | transfixed |
| Noun | |
| plural | transfixes |
Origin of transfix
From Middle French transfixer, from Old French transfixer, from Latin transfigō (“to pierce through”), from trans- (“through”) + figō (“to pierce”).
From trans- + -fix.
Words formed from transfix
Questions about transfix
- What does transfix mean?
- Transfix means to render motionless, by arousing terror, amazement or awe.
- What is transfix in Tamil?
- Transfix in Tamil is துளைத்துத்துளைத்தல். See Transfix meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is transfix?
- Transfix can be a verb or a noun.
- What is the past tense of transfix?
- The past tense of transfix is transfixed.
Words near transfix in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: transfix (page history and authors); transfix (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); transfix (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); నాటు (Telugu) (page history and authors); transfix (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); transfix (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-transfix.ogg.
Cite this entry: “transfix.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/transfix. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.