compulsive

[ kuh m-puhl-siv ]

/ kəmˈpʌl sɪv /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR compulsive ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

compelling; compulsory.

Psychology.

pertaining to, characterized by, or involving compulsion: a compulsive desire to cry.
governed by an obsessive need to conform, be scrupulous, etc., coupled with an inability to express positive emotions.

noun

Psychology. a person whose behavior is governed by a compulsion.

Words nearby compulsive

compton-burnett, comptroller, comptroller general of the united states, comptroller of the currency, compulsion, compulsive, compulsive personality, compulsory, compulsory purchase, compunction, compunctious

Origin of compulsive

1595–1605; obsolete compulse v. (< Latin compuls(us), past participle of compellere; see compulsion) + -ive

OTHER WORDS FROM compulsive

com·pul·sive·ly, adverbcom·pul·sive·ness, com·pul·siv·i·ty

[kuh m-puhl-siv-i-tee, kom-puhl-] /kəm pʌlˈsɪv ɪ ti, ˌkɒm pʌl-/, nounnon·com·pul·sive, adjectivenon·com·pul·sive·ly, adverb

qua·si-com·pul·sive, adjectivequa·si-com·pul·sive·ly, adverbun·com·pul·sive, adjectiveun·com·pul·sive·ly, adverb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH compulsive

compulsive impulsive impetuous (see synonym study at impetuous)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for compulsive

His detail seeking in our meetings is compulsive and a little nuts.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Sex and passion; compulsive, life-changing, soul-altering sex, all to be made more explicit than he had done in the past.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Compulsive writing, or hypergraphia, is a well-known, if uncommon, symptom of temporal lobe epilepsy.
The Seizure Medication That Turns You Into a Poet|Cat Ferguson|September 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I think one of the main issues would be that there may be a subgroup of people who may run into problems with compulsive use.
Does Porn Cause Brain Shrinkage In Men?|Emily Shire|May 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Sunday came and I was in better spirits; things were settling down, although there was that compulsive gum-chewing habit.
After War: Anger, Panic, and Sometimes Peace|Benjamin Tupper|June 26, 2013|DAILY BEAST
This word we have already defined as an unduly insistent and compulsive thought, habit of mind, or tendency to action.
Why Worry?|George Lincoln Walton, M.D.
In the forefront of this group was John Rogers, whose hostility to the deist was articulate and compulsive.
A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony in Writing (1729)|Anthony Collins
How can you come out from your partial dogmas to enter Truth and find it alone dogmatic and compulsive?
Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XII. September, 1863, No. LXXI.|Various
Years ago the elder Pitt urged upon his countrymen the compulsive invocation, "Be one people."
New York Times Current History: The European War from the Beginning to March 1915, Vol 1, No. 2|Various
Compulsive ideas are ideas which intrude, recur, and persist despite reason and will.
Applied Psychology for Nurses|Mary F. Porter

British Dictionary definitions for compulsive

compulsive

/ (kəmˈpʌlsɪv) /

adjective

relating to or involving compulsion

noun

psychiatry an individual who is subject to a psychological compulsion

Derived forms of compulsive

compulsively, adverbcompulsiveness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medicine definitions for compulsive

compulsive

[ kəm-pŭl′sĭv ]

adj.

Caused or conditioned by compulsion or obsession.

n.

A person with behavior patterns governed by a compulsion.

compulsive

adjective

noun

Content related to compulsive

Words related to compulsive

Words nearby compulsive

Origin of compulsive

OTHER WORDS FROM compulsive

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH compulsive

Examples from the Web for compulsive

British Dictionary definitions for compulsive

adjective

noun

Derived forms of compulsive

Medicine definitions for compulsive

adj.

n.