prepossession
Americannoun
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the state of being prepossessed.
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a prejudice, especially one in favor of a person or thing.
- Synonyms:
- interest, bias, liking, predilection
noun
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the state or condition of being prepossessed
-
a prejudice or bias, esp a favourable one
Other Word Forms
- prepossessionary adjective
Etymology
Origin of prepossession
First recorded in 1640–50; pre- + possession
Explanation
Prepossession is a prejudice or a preconceived idea about something. You might be accused of prepossession if you decided you were going to dislike your new job before you'd even started working there. When you've got a strong opinion about a subject — or a person — despite having little information or direct experience, that's prepossession. Your prepossession on the subject of cats might make it hard for you to be enthusiastic about your roommate's new kitten, for example. The obsolete verb prepossess originally meant "to get possession of beforehand." By the 1630's, it came to mean "to possess a person beforehand with a feeling or idea," usually in a positive sense.
Vocabulary lists containing prepossession
"Common Sense," Vocabulary from the pamphlet
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Common Sense
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Society and Solitude
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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.
My own prepossession is still in favor of Alberti.
From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by Symonds, John Addington
In attempting this the writer does so not from the standpoint of the theologian or the professional clergyman, but from that of a liberal thinker with mind unfettered by any prepossession.
From The Arena Volume 18, No. 93, August, 1897 by Various
Men," he says, "are carried by a natural instinct or prepossession to repose faith in their senses.
From Heresy: Its Utility And Morality A Plea And A Justification by Bradlaugh, Charles
This was a literary hallucination, and a remarkable evidence of a favourite position maintained merely by the force of prepossession.
From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Disraeli, Isaac
The countenance and appearance of Chapelle Marteau confirmed any prepossession in his favour.
From Henry of Guise; (Vol. II of 3) or, The States of Blois by James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
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.
