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.
Washington is a city obsessed with projecting power through stone, and littered with overinflated federal buildings of white marble dressed up with colonnades, pediments and porticos.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
“Kafkaesque” suggests that translation is the quintessential medium for a body of work obsessed with alienation.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
Streeting was obsessed with Labour politics from an early age, which, he told FE Week, made him unpopular with his schoolmates.
From BBC • May 13, 2026
They’d probably order that every day if they had their way — they’re obsessed.
From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2026
Javier hadn’t played it, and even though it was a single-player game, Moss was a bit obsessed with it and wanted everyone to play it.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
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.
