noun
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psychiatry a persistent idea or impulse that continually forces its way into consciousness, often associated with anxiety and mental illness
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a persistent preoccupation, idea, or feeling
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the act of obsessing or the state of being obsessed
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonobsessionnoun
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self-obsessionnoun
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nonobsessionaladjective
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obsessionaladjective
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obsessionallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of obsession
First recorded in 1505–15; from Latin obsessiōn-, stem of obsessiō “blockade, siege,” from obsess(us) “occupied, besieged” (past participle of obsidēre “to occupy, besiege”; see obsess) + -iō -ion
Explanation
If you have an obsession, you're totally fixated on something and unhealthily devoted to it. Some common obsessions include fantasy football leagues, celebrity gossip, and Elvis memorabilia. Obsession is kind of like a passion for something that crosses the line into crazy territory. Sometimes people get so preoccupied with their obsessions that it makes them anxious or emotionally unstable. If you have an obsession with the Yankees, for example, you might go to every single game, skip work to watch spring training, paper your room with Yankees posters, and write love notes to Derek Jeter.
Vocabulary lists containing obsession
Vocabulary from an excerpt from "Confessions of a 30-Year-Old Gamer," by Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates
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Derek Walcott (1930-2017) Tribute List
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The Boy Who Invented TV
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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.
If you’re down for films that are both terrifying and artful, we have a horror trio: Obsession, Backrooms, and Leviticus.
From Slate • Jun. 26, 2026
Obsession is maybe too hard-edged; interest too soft.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026
Jumping to second place, Focus Features' original horror film "Obsession" drew $28.5 million in sales on its second weekend, bringing its total earnings to an estimated $59 million.
From Barron's • May 24, 2026
Appeared in the September 17, 2025, print edition as 'How an Albino Alligator Became An Obsession Inside an AI Giant'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 16, 2025
Obsession is only a special case of psychic disintegration, a kind of doubling of consciousness.
From Essay on the Creative Imagination by Baron, Albert Heyem Nachmen
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.
