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possessive

[ puh-zes-iv ]

/ pəˈzɛs ɪv /

See synonyms for: possessive / possessiveness on Thesaurus.com

adjective

jealously opposed to the personal independence of, or to any influence other than one's own upon, a child, spouse, etc.

desirous of possessing, especially excessively so: Young children are so possessive they will not allow others to play with their toys; a possessive lover.

of or relating to possession or ownership.

Grammar.

indicating possession, ownership, origin, etc. His in his book is a possessive adjective. His in The book is his is a possessive pronoun.
noting or pertaining to a case that indicates possession, ownership, origin, etc., as, in English, John's in John's hat.

noun Grammar.

the possessive case.

a form in the possessive.

VIDEO FOR POSSESSIVE

WATCH NOW: What Are The Rules For Adding An Apostrophe Plus An S To Words?

The rules for showing possession—that is, owning, having, or belonging to something—in English grammar can be extremely frustrating. Here are three general rules.

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We’ve gathered some interesting words donated to English from Portuguese … as well as some that just don’t translate at all. Do you know what they mean?

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Origin of possessive

From the Latin word possessīvus, dating back to 1520–30. See possess, -ive

OTHER WORDS FROM possessive

pos·ses·sive·ly, adverbpos·ses·sive·ness, nounnon·pos·ses·sive, adjectivenon·pos·ses·sive·ly, adverb

non·pos·ses·sive·ness, nounun·pos·ses·sive, adjectiveun·pos·ses·sive·ly, adverbun·pos·ses·sive·ness, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH possessive

possessive , possessory

Words nearby possessive

possessed, possessed by, possession, possession is nine points of the law, possession order, possessive, possessive adjective, possessive pronoun, possessory, posset, possibility

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for possessive

Building on other research projects suggesting, for example, that people at high risk of psychosis tend use fewer possessive pronouns like “my,” “his,” or “ours,” Rezaii and her colleagues wanted to see if a computer could spot low semantic density.
Machines can spot mental health issues—if you hand over your personal data|Bobbie Johnson|August 13, 2020|MIT Technology Review
A jilted and possessive ex-lover who was jealous because Le was about to be married to another man?
Yale Killer Caught on Tape?|Wendy Murphy|September 14, 2009|DAILY BEAST
In the Beto language there is, indeed, no special pronoun of this kind, as the one used is also a possessive.
The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt|Daniel G. Brinton
When a thing belongs to two or more joint owners, the sign of the possessive is added to the last name only.
An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises|George Lyman Kittredge

But there was my Cousin Betty Graeme to do the honors of my board—how strange it still seemed to use the possessive pronoun!
In Jeopardy|Van Tassel Sutphen
They have the same form for both nominative and objective and are not used in the possessive case.
An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises|George Lyman Kittredge
In the last sentence beggar's, miser's, and Ingersoll's, are nouns in the possessive form.
Plain English|Marian Wharton

British Dictionary definitions for possessive

possessive

/ (pəˈzɛsɪv) /

adjective

of or relating to possession or ownership

having or showing an excessive desire to possess, control, or dominatea possessive mother

grammar

another word for genitive (def. 1)
denoting an inflected form of a noun or pronoun used to convey the idea of possession, association, etc, as my or Harry's

noun

grammar

the possessive case
a word or speech element in the possessive case

Derived forms of possessive

possessively, adverbpossessiveness, 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

Cultural definitions for possessive

possessive

The case of a noun or pronoun that shows possession. Nouns are usually made possessive by adding an apostrophe and s: “The bicycle is Sue's, not Mark's.” Possessive pronouns can take the place of possessive nouns: “The bicycle is hers, not his.” (See nominative case and objective case.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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