noun
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psychiatry a persistent idea or impulse that continually forces its way into consciousness, often associated with anxiety and mental illness
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a persistent preoccupation, idea, or feeling
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the act of obsessing or the state of being obsessed
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of obsession
First recorded in 1505–15; from Latin obsessiōn-, stem of obsessiō “blockade, siege,” from obsess(us) “occupied, besieged” (past participle of obsidēre “to occupy, besiege”; see obsess) + -iō -ion
Explanation
If you have an obsession, you're totally fixated on something and unhealthily devoted to it. Some common obsessions include fantasy football leagues, celebrity gossip, and Elvis memorabilia. Obsession is kind of like a passion for something that crosses the line into crazy territory. Sometimes people get so preoccupied with their obsessions that it makes them anxious or emotionally unstable. If you have an obsession with the Yankees, for example, you might go to every single game, skip work to watch spring training, paper your room with Yankees posters, and write love notes to Derek Jeter.
Vocabulary lists containing obsession
Vocabulary from an excerpt from "Confessions of a 30-Year-Old Gamer," by Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates
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Derek Walcott (1930-2017) Tribute List
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The Boy Who Invented TV
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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.
Big Tech’s obsession with AI infrastructure is starting to feel like a betrayal to the legions of gamers who nurtured some of the key companies and technologies driving the boom.
From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026
His obsession began aged nine while watching fellow Dutchman Peter Aerts win a world title - the very hero Verhoeven would eventually defeat years later.
From BBC • May 22, 2026
Finch developed an obsession with knowing what his opponents were going to do better than they did themselves.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
Ethicist Carissa Véliz warns that our societal obsession with predictions is ruining democracy.
From Slate • May 8, 2026
Bacon read it in manuscript, but had no time for it: Gilbert’s preoccupation with magnetism seemed to him an irrational obsession, and as a result he had ‘built a ship out of a shell’.
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.
