Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of obsessed
Explanation
If you visit your grandmother and discover that she has collected so many clown dolls and clown paintings that her house is full of them, you may worry that she's become obsessed with clowns. An obsession with something is an unhealthy, extreme interest in it. When someone is obsessed, they've lost control of their feelings about the object of their obsession. The adjective obsessed is often used to simply mean "very interested," but when someone is truly obsessed, their interest has become compulsive, and they've begun to lose control over it. The Latin root is obsessus, or "besieged," and when you're obsessed, your mind has been besieged by uncontrollable thoughts of something.
Vocabulary lists containing obsessed
Esperanza Rising
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The Secret Life of Bees
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Stargirl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I think 12 of us went, something like that, and since then we’ve just been obsessed with all things Michael Jackson.
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026
Wealthy investors are now obsessed with losing, too.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 2026
The Barbie actor tells the BBC she first heard about the project years ago, when it was just a script "and everyone was telling me I'd be obsessed with it, and they were right".
From BBC • May 13, 2026
The more I ask about it, the more obsessed it becomes with my disease.
From Slate • May 6, 2026
We were obsessed with wrestling videos on YouTube.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
