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.
Max Cady either validates the paranoia of upstanding men obsessed with protecting or dominating women, or the disdain felt by those whom such men look down upon.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
Years ago, Rebecca became obsessed with barefoot shoes.
From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2026
Mbappe wants to break every record he can, but only if they serve the collective - it is no secret he is obsessed with equalling Pele's record of three World Cup triumphs.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
He obsessed over a scenario—often discussed among rationalists—in which a superintelligent AI covers the earth in data centers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
All over Europe astronomers were obsessed with it—and since they now knew Regiomontanus’s real technique for measuring parallax, they naturally tried to apply it.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
