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.
He was 16 and already obsessed with drums, but he says it wasn’t until that moment that he knew he wanted to devote his life making music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
The market is obsessed with how much Big Tech is spending on AI.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
“Brutal and oblivious to the administrative needs of an empire,” Commodus was obsessed with gladiatorial combat, declaring himself “Hercules on Earth.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Kiki meets a boy, Tombo, who is obsessed with flight and, specifically, Kiki’s marvelous ability to fly without the help of a machine.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
The new one by Ruby Willow, the thirteen-year-old pastry chef I was obsessed with.
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
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.
