obsess
Americanverb (used with object)
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obsesses,
present (3rd person singular)
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obsessed,
past participle, past
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obsessing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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obsesses,
present (3rd person singular)
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obsessed,
past participle, past
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obsessing
present participle
verb
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(tr; when passive, foll by with or by) to preoccupy completely; haunt
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(intr; usually foll by on or over) to worry neurotically or obsessively; brood
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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obsesssimple
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obsessessimple
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have obsessedperfect
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has obsessedperfect
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am obsessingprogressive
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are obsessingprogressive
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is obsessingprogressive
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have been obsessingperfect progressive
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has been obsessingperfect progressive
Past
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obsessedsimple
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had obsessedperfect
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was obsessingprogressive
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were obsessingprogressive
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had been obsessingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of obsess
1495–1505; < Latin obsessus, past participle of obsidēre to occupy, frequent, besiege, equivalent to ob- ob- + -sid ( ēre ) combining form of sedēre to sit 1
Explanation
If you obsess about something, you constantly think about it, like kids who obsess about their grades so much, they get upset before every test. Obsess comes from the Latin word obsessus, which means to besiege, the way obsessive thoughts can besiege, or attack, your mind. You can obsess about something, like the tiny spot on your shoes that no one can even see, or be obsessed, or haunted or preoccupied by something. For example, the memory of a big, delicious dinner could obsess a hungry man.
Vocabulary lists containing obsess
"Sisters" by Raina Telgemeier
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Counting by 7s
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Vocabulary from Golden Globe Winners
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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.
See Examples For:
Where Tumblr-ites dreamed of the cloistered quads and moody libraries of Princeton in the 2010s, TikTok-ers now obsess over the elaborate rituals of University of Alabama sororities.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
"The last thing I want is for people to obsess about the cancer thing," the actor said, "because I'm not really interested in cancer, I'm not really interested in anything other than living."
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Other Pacific states don’t celebrate and obsess over tuba, though, like Colima does.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
While market watchers obsess about the dominance of a handful of gigantic stocks, smaller companies are the real winners this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
I shove my phone into my pocket so I don’t obsess the whole way home, but it starts buzzing with texts before I even reach the end of the block.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Alongside scenes where Guardiola obsesses over tactics, there are many where he gives candid speeches and berates his team.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
While everyone obsesses over what happens to oil flows in the Strait of Hormuz, a solar-power revolution is under way in some emerging countries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
Which means stock prices themselves — the thing everyone obsesses over — contribute about as much to your wealth as the participation trophy you got in Little League.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025
Through his cousin Sony, who resides in a nearby halfway house and obsesses about the Civil War, Hai is hired by Home Market, where he scrubs counters and toilets and works the cash register.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2025
This was the belief throughout the Middle Ages, and I admit that it obsesses me and fills me with joy, that it responds to the most ardent of my yearnings.
From Là-bas by Keene Wallace
And then you become obsessed with sitting with better posture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Mark Joseph Stern: This idea of republican virtue, lowercase r, civic virtue, the Framers were obsessed with it.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
I have become obsessed with this subject that still makes my brain sore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
The market is obsessed with how much Big Tech is spending on AI.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
She married him after a short courtship but soon realized that her husband was obsessed with wealth and fame.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
He compared autonomy to the development of Microsoft Word -- concentrating on swarms was like obsessing over the button that makes text italic, instead of the whole programme.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
“I think a lot about what was obsessing them,” he told The Times in 2000, “what they were pursuing, what were their demons.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026
The only thing standing in their way is the opponent that Team USA has spent a year obsessing over: Canada, the sport’s ultimate powerhouse and the Americans’ fiercest rival.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026
I would rather spend it figuring out how to enjoy adding something in than obsessing over what I need to cut out.
From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2026
For all my obsessing over the consequences of that night, I had misunderstood the vital truth: that its not affecting me, that was its effect.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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.
