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Heal vs Fix - What's the difference?

heal | fix |

In transitive terms the difference between heal and fix

is that heal is to make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure while fix is to render (a photographic impression) permanent by treating with such applications as will make it insensitive to the action of light.

In intransitive terms the difference between heal and fix

is that heal is to become better while fix is to become firm, so as to resist volatilization; to cease to flow or be fluid; to congeal; to become hard and malleable, as a metallic substance.

As verbs the difference between heal and fix

is that heal is to hide; conceal; keep secret while fix is to pierce; now generally replaced by transfix.

As nouns the difference between heal and fix

is that heal is health while fix is a repair or corrective action.

As an abbreviation FIX is

abbreviation of lang=en|factor IX clotting factor IX.

heal

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) helen, hilen, from (etyl) . Related to (l), (l).

Alternative forms

* (l), (l) * (l) (Scotland)

Verb

  • To hide; conceal; keep secret.
  • To cover, as for protection.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) helen, from (etyl) . More at (l).

    Verb

  • To make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure.
  • This bandage will heal your cut.
  • * Bible, Matthew viii. 8
  • Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed .
  • To become better.
  • Bandages allow cuts to heal .
  • To reconcile, as a breach or difference; to make whole; to free from guilt.
  • to heal dissensions
    Synonyms
    * (make better) cure, make whole * (become better) get better, recover
    Derived terms
    * healable * healand, Healand * healer * health

    Noun

    (-)
  • (obsolete) health
  • (Chaucer)

    Anagrams

    * * English ergative verbs ----

    fix

    English

    Alternative forms

    * fixe (archaic)

    Noun

    (es)
  • A repair or corrective action.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […]  But the scandals kept coming, […]. A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.}}
  • A difficult situation; a quandary or dilemma.
  • (informal) A single dose of an addictive drug administered to a drug user.
  • * (Alain Jourgensen)
  • "Just one fix !"
  • A prearrangement of the outcome of a supposedly competitive process, such as a sporting event, a game, an election, a trial, or a bid.
  • *
  • A determination of location.
  • (US) fettlings (mixture used to line a furnace)
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To pierce; now generally replaced by transfix.
  • # (by extension) (Of a piercing look) to direct at someone.
  • He fixed me with a sickly grin, and said, "I told you it wouldn't work!"
  • To attach; to affix; to hold in place.
  • A dab of chewing gum will fix your note to the bulletin board.
    A leech can fix itself to your skin without you feeling it.
  • # (transitive, figuratively, usually in the passive) To focus or determine (oneself, on a concept); to fixate.
  • She's fixed on the idea of becoming a doctor.
  • To mend, to repair.
  • That heater will start a fire if you don't fix it.
  • (informal) To prepare (food).
  • She fixed dinner for the kids.
  • To make (a contest, vote, or gamble) unfair; to privilege one contestant or a particular group of contestants, usually before the contest begins; to arrange immunity for defendants by tampering with the justice system via bribery or extortionSutherland, Edwin H. (ed) (1937): The Professional Thief: by a Professional Thief. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Reprinted by various publishers in subsequent decades.]
  • A majority of voters believed the election was fixed in favor of the incumbent.
  • (transitive, US, informal) To surgically render an animal, especially a pet, infertile.
  • Rover stopped digging under the fence after we had the vet fix him.
  • (transitive, mathematics, sematics) To map a (point or subset) to itself.
  • (informal) To take revenge on, to best; to serve justice on an assumed miscreant.
  • He got caught breaking into lockers, so a couple of guys fixed him after work.
  • To render (a photographic impression) permanent by treating with such applications as will make it insensitive to the action of light.
  • (transitive, chemistry, biology) To convert into a stable or available form.
  • Legumes are valued in crop rotation for their ability to fix nitrogen.
    (Abney)
  • To become fixed; to settle or remain permanently; to cease from wandering; to rest.
  • * (rfdate) (Waller)
  • Your kindness banishes your fear, / Resolved to fix forever here.
  • To become firm, so as to resist volatilization; to cease to flow or be fluid; to congeal; to become hard and malleable, as a metallic substance.
  • (Francis Bacon)

    Synonyms

    * (make a contest unfair) doctor, rig * (render infertile) neuter, spay, desex, castrate * See also

    Antonyms

    * (to hold in place) move, change

    Derived terms

    * affix, affixative, fixed * fixings, fixity, fixety * fix someone's wagon, fix someone up with