obsess
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Latin obsessus, perfect passive participle of obsideō (“sit on or in, remain, besiege”), from ob (“before”) + sedeō (“I sit”); see sit, session, etc.; compare assess, possess.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /əbˈsɛs/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- Rhymes: -ɛs
Verb
obsess (third-person singular simple present obsesses, present participle obsessing, simple past and past participle obsessed)
- (passive voice, constructed with "with") To be preoccupied with a single topic or emotion.
- Some people are obsessed with sports.
- 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892:
- The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy.
- 2023 August 9, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Disinterested and dishonest”, in RAIL, number 989, page 3:
- Over the past few months, RAIL has frequently condemned the Department for Transport for its growing contempt for rail customers - by obsessing on cost, caring nothing for service, and not having the slightest interest in growth.
- (transitive) To dominate the thoughts of someone.
- Thoughts of her obsess my every waking moment.
- (intransitive, colloquial, construed with over) To think or talk obsessively about.
- Stop obsessing over it, will you!
Related terms
Translations
to be preoccupied with a single topic or emotion
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to dominate the thoughts of someone
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Further reading
- “obsess”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “obsess”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
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