What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Repair vs Fix - What's the difference?

repair | fix |

As nouns the difference between repair and fix

is that repair is the act of repairing something while fix is a repair or corrective action.

As verbs the difference between repair and fix

is that repair is to restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy while fix is to pierce; now generally replaced by transfix.

As an abbreviation FIX is

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

repair

English

Etymology 1

Coined between 1300 and 1350 from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of repairing something.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.
  • The result of repairing something.
  • The condition of something, in respect of need for repair.
  • Derived terms
    * disrepair

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy.
  • to repair a house, a road, a shoe, or a ship
    to repair a shattered fortune
  • * Milton
  • secret refreshings that repair his strength
  • * Wordsworth
  • Do thou, as thou art wont, repair / My heart with gladness.
  • To make amends for, as for an injury, by an equivalent; to indemnify for.
  • to repair a loss or damage
  • * Shakespeare
  • I'll repair the misery thou dost bear.
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * repairable / reparable, repairer

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) . Cognate to repatriate.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of repairing or resorting to a place.
  • our annual repair to the mountains
  • * Clarendon
  • The king sent a proclamation for their repair to their houses.
  • A place to which one goes frequently or habitually; a haunt.
  • * Dryden
  • There the fierce winds his tender force assail / And beat him downward to his first repair .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To transfer oneself to another place.
  • :
  • *(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • *:Go, mount the winds, and to the shades repair .
  • *1850 , , (Jane Eyre)
  • *:I heard the visitors repair to their chambers.
  • *
  • *:That finished, I repaired to my room, one flight up, and, after a thorough wash, seated myself, pipe in mouth, at the little window that opened on the Rue Garde. I had nothing more exciting on hand than to wait for word from Von Lindowe. I sincerely hoped that it would not be long, for it is not my forte to sit twiddling my thumbs.
  • Derived terms
    * repatriate

    Etymology 3

    From .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to pair again
  • 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