obsess
to dominate or preoccupy the thoughts, feelings, or desires of (a person); beset, trouble, or haunt persistently or abnormally: Suspicion obsessed him.
to think about something unceasingly or persistently; dwell obsessively upon something.
Origin of obsess
1Other words for obsess
Other words from obsess
- ob·sess·ing·ly, adverb
- ob·ses·sor, noun
Words that may be confused with obsess
- abscess, obsess
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use obsess in a sentence
She’s also just as food-obsessed as we are and wants to talk about it.
Freezing Weather, COVID Pivots: How ‘Eater’s Guide to the World’ Was Made | Eater Staff | November 20, 2020 | EaterI know there will be people under 21 among those, but these are young, sports-obsessed guys who are already sports bettors.
Free money, big addictions: Inside the booming world of online sports betting | Brett Haensel | November 15, 2020 | FortuneWe both love practically every title in the series, enough to complete all of them and obsess over the smallest details and changes.
All the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ games, ranked | Elise Favis, Gene Park | November 11, 2020 | Washington PostHe began to obsess over food and take drastic measures to lose weight.
What you will regret is not being compassionate and kind enough to the people you love — and you’re not being as compassionate and kind to them if you’re obsessing about the election.
How to detox from election anxiety, according to mental health experts | Allyson Chiu | November 9, 2020 | Washington Post
And not just sick in the body but in your mind, because you start obsessing.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze | Lizzie Crocker | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTApparently Kukucuva had been obsessing about the break-up for some time.
Alleged Murderer Shot Her Millionaire Ex and Escaped in Gold Hummer | Barbie Latza Nadeau | April 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTStop tweeting, texting, blogging, watching cable news, and obsessing about polls, lost planes, and focus group-driven politicians.
All this observation and self-observation possibly says something very depressing about how insular and self-obsessing we are.
It helps if there is some deeper truth inside the noir worth obsessing about.
‘True Detective,’ Obsessive-Compulsive Noir, and ‘Twin Peaks’ | Jimmy So | March 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe was able to add to the obsessing question in the hollow of his consciousness one other thought: Some one is coming.
The Woman Gives | Owen JohnsonBut for the one obsessing idea she would have recognised that those soft-padded footfalls were not those of any white man.
Forging the Blades | Bertram MitfordThe incident remained in my memory, obsessing it, deepening the film of mystery which had been about her from the first.
The Wasted Generation | Owen JohnsonThus escapes us once more the New Woman, this obsessing phantom of which everyone speaks and which so few have seen.
The English Stage | Augustin FilonYet with that horrible suspicion obsessing me I felt that I must do something in order to satisfy myself.
The Sign of Silence | William Le Queux
British Dictionary definitions for obsess
/ (əbˈsɛs) /
(tr; when passive, foll by with or by) to preoccupy completely; haunt
(intr; usually foll by on or over) to worry neurotically or obsessively; brood
Origin of obsess
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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