obsessive
excessive, especially extremely so.
someone who has an obsession or obsessions; a person who thinks or behaves in an obsessive manner.
Origin of obsessive
1Other words from obsessive
- ob·ses·sive·ly, adverb
- ob·ses·sive·ness, noun
- non·ob·ses·sive, adjective
- non·ob·ses·sive·ly, adverb
- non·ob·ses·sive·ness, noun
Words Nearby obsessive
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use obsessive in a sentence
The lawyer, listed in court as Jane Roe to protect her identity, said she sought help from Federal Defender Anthony Martinez after his top deputy targeted her for unwelcome attention that the lawsuit describes as “intense and obsessive.”
Comments on body parts. Questions about pregnancy. Court filing alleges ongoing harassment in judiciary. | Ann Marimow | August 26, 2021 | Washington PostHe realizes too late that his obsessive focus on his daughter has blinded him to the bigger issues—and that a world in which one’s own child’s future becomes more important than others’ is not one in which anyone can thrive.
From Stillwater to Sweet Girl, A New Crop of Movies Explores the Plight of Modern Dads | Belinda Luscombe | August 18, 2021 | TimeThis obsessive stockpiling of brick-a-brack, however, is excellent news for an array of researchers hoping to study shifting climates, evolving flora and fauna, and even mysterious human treks across ancient deserts.
What’s in a packrat’s petrified pee? Just a few thousand years of secrets. | Rachel Feltman | August 12, 2021 | Popular-ScienceRyan spares no one — from “young, young, young” dads who put in bare-minimum parenting effort, to Jane’s imaginary husband to her own obsessive love for the musical Hamilton.
Rebecca is passionate, obsessive in her drive, and nobody else could have made this place become such a major tourist destination.
LGBTQ ally Hoffberger stepping down at American Visionary Art Museum | Ed Gunts | July 21, 2021 | Washington Blade
obsessive exercising and inadequate nutrition can, over time, put people at high risk for overuse injuries like stress fractures.
How Skinny Is Too Skinny? Israel Bans ‘Underweight’ Models | Carrie Arnold | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTMcCauley may have married beneath her station, but Gordon-Levitt has obsessive fans.
All Your Internet Boyfriends Are Taken: Gosling, Cumberbatch, and now Joseph Gordon-Levitt | Melissa Leon | January 3, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTBut it looks like it was created by crazed person with obsessive-compulsive behavior.
Panicked, I reached out to hoarding experts, who often refer to any kind of obsessive digital collecting as “infomania.”
The line between being careful about what you eat and being obsessive is difficult to distinguish.
Orthorexia: When Healthy Eating Becomes an Obsession | DailyBurn | October 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThroughout his literary activity it has an obsessive hold on his mind.
Prophets of Dissent | Otto HellerNow, however, actual and obsessive dread showed plainly on his face and in his movements.
In Old Kentucky | Edward Marshall and Charles T. DazeyIt did not wear away, as he had supposed it would, but was becoming an obsessive factor in his thoughts.
The Alaskan | James Oliver CurwoodThe most common of these obsessive acts is washing with water (washing obsession).
Totem and Taboo | Sigmund FreudThere is a great deal of difference between the interest shown by normal people and the obsessive interest of scientists.
David and the Phoenix | Edward Ormondroyd
British Dictionary definitions for obsessive
/ (əbˈsɛsɪv) /
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
psychiatry a person subject to obsession
a person who is continually preoccupied with a particular activity, person, or thing
Derived forms of obsessive
- obsessively, adverb
- obsessiveness, noun
Collins 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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