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say it: FIK-suh-tiv
fixative is a noun meaning "a compound (such as ethanol or formaldehyde) that fixes tissues and cells for microscopic study". It carries 2 recorded senses.
a compound (such as ethanol or formaldehyde) that fixes tissues and cells for microscopic study
a varnish dissolved in alcohol and sprayed over pictures to prevent smudging
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for fixative come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.