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
- nonobsession noun
- nonobsessional adjective
- obsessional adjective
- obsessionally adverb
- self-obsession noun
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”; obsess ) + -iō -ion
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.
Vernice has her sights set on college, marriage and children; Annie is mainly motivated by her obsession with finding her mother.
She is joined, yet again, by Courteney Cox’s intrusive newscaster, Gale Weathers, who is in all seven films and is meant to serve as a satiric commentary on journalism’s obsession with blood and gore.
An obsession with artificial intelligence powered the stock market to dizzying heights.
What makes the album a timeless classic are its catchy melodies; shrewd arrangements that caught the culture’s disco obsession; and Mr. Scaggs’s earthy, confessional lyrics and intimate voice.
This is where our growing obsession with achieving optimal sleep—an issue that researchers call orthosomnia—becomes harmful.
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.
