adjective
-
psychiatry motivated by a persistent overriding idea or impulse, often associated with anxiety and mental illness
-
continually preoccupied with a particular activity, person, or thing
noun
-
psychiatry a person subject to obsession
-
a person who is continually preoccupied with a particular activity, person, or thing
Other Word Forms
- nonobsessive adjective
- nonobsessively adverb
- nonobsessiveness noun
- obsessively adverb
- obsessiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of obsessive
First recorded in 1910–15; obsess(ion) + -ive
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.
“This type of obsessive food-related thinking can override hunger cues and lead to patterns of overeating, undereating or emotional eating — especially for people who are overweight,” Tufts said.
From Los Angeles Times
Mr. Sturridge is almost animalistic and at times absurdly funny in delineating Mat’s sudden and obsessive love; it seems to draw him to Anna with an almost overpowering force.
The band’s obsessives—and they are legion—will find much to adore in this exciting and expansive new release in celebration of the legendary LP’s 50th anniversary.
From Salon
News of the severity of his injury was exacerbated by obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms, and he described being in hospital as "unbearable".
From BBC
Below, the actor from Arkansas, 70, talks about being a mouthpiece for Sheridan, smoking on the job and how his dyslexia and obsessive compulsive disorder influence the way he memorizes lines.
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.
