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Constant vs Fixed - What's the difference?

constant | fixed |

As adjectives the difference between constant and fixed

is that constant is unchanged through time or space; permanent while fixed is not changing, not able to be changed, staying the same.

As a noun constant

is that which is permanent or invariable.

As a verb fixed is

past tense of fix.

constant

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Unchanged through time or space; permanent.
  • Consistently recurring over time; persistent.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-11-16, volume=409, issue=8862, magazine=(The Economist), author=Schumpeter
  • , title= The mindfulness business , passage=The constant pinging of electronic devices is driving many people to the end of their tether. Electronic devices not only overload the senses and invade leisure time. They feed on themselves: the more people tweet the more they are rewarded with followers and retweets.}}
  • Steady in purpose, action, feeling, etc.
  • * Sir (Philip Sidney) (1554-1586)
  • Both loving one fair maid, they yet remained constant friends.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I am constant to my purposes.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • His gifts, his constant courtship, nothing gained.
  • Firm; solid; not fluid.
  • * (Robert Boyle) (1627-1691)
  • Ifyou mix them, you may turn these two fluid liquors into a constant body.
  • (obsolete) Consistent; logical.
  • * Shakespeare, Twelfth Night IV.ii
  • I am no more mad than you are: make the trial of it with any constant question.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • That which is permanent or invariable.
  • (algebra) A quantity that remains at a fixed value throughout a given discussion.
  • (science) Any property of an experiment, determined numerically, that does not change under given circumstances.
  • (computing) An identifier that is bound to an invariant value; a fixed value given a name to aid in readability of source code.
  • See also

    * (computing) literal ----

    fixed

    English

    Verb

    (head)
  • (fix)
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Not changing, not able to be changed, staying the same.
  • fixed assets
    I work fixed''' hours for a '''fixed salary.
    Every religion has its own fixed ideas.
    ''He looked at me with a fixed glare.
  • Stationary.
  • Attached; affixed
  • *
  • The closest affinities of the Jubulaceae are with the Lejeuneaceae. The two families share in common: (a ) elaters usually 1-spiral, trumpet-shaped and fixed to the capsule valves, distally
  • Chemically stable.
  • Supplied with what one needs.
  • She's nicely fixed after two divorce settlements.
  • (legal) Of sound, recorded on a permanent medium.
  • In the United States, recordings are only granted copyright protection when the sounds in the recording were fixed and first published on or after February 15, 1972.
  • (dialectal, informal) Surgically rendered infertile (spayed, neutered or castrated).
  • a fixed''' tomcat''; the ''she-cat'' has been '''fixed
  • Rigged; fraudulently prearranged.
  • Synonyms

    * stable, immobile

    Antonyms

    * mobile

    Derived terms

    * fixed-gear bicycle * fixed-point * fixed-term * fixed-term contract * fixed addresses * fixed air * fixed asset * fixed assets * fixed charge * fixed charges * fixed costs * fixed disk * fixed disks * fixed feast * * * fixed income * fixed incomes * fixed limit * fixed point * fixed points * fixed route * fixed satellite * fixed satellites * fixed set * fixed sets * fixed star * fixed stars * fixed wave * fixed waves * fixedly * fixedness * fixednesses * fixety

    See also

    * broken * crooked * bribe