obsessed

to dominate or preoccupy the thoughts, feelings, or desires of (a person); beset, trouble, or haunt persistently or abnormally: Suspicion obsessed him.

verb (used without object)

to think about something unceasingly or persistently; dwell obsessively upon something.

Origin:
1495–1505; < Latin obsessus, past participle of obsidēre to occupy, frequent, besiege, equivalent to ob- ob- + -sid(ēre) combining form of sedēre to sit

Related forms

ob·sess·ing·ly, adverb

ob·ses·sor, noun

Can be confused: abscess, obsess.

Synonyms
1. possess, control, haunt.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To Obsessed

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Obsessed is always a great word to know.

So is interrobang. Does it mean:

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

obsess (əbˈsɛs)

—vb
1.	(tr; when passive, foll by with or by) to preoccupy completely; haunt
2.	(intr; usually foll by on or over) to worry neurotically or obsessively; brood

[C16: from Latin obsessus besieged, past participle of obsidēre, from ob- in front of + sedēre to sit]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

obsess

c.1500, "to besiege," from L. obsessus, pp. of obsidere "besiege, occupy," lit. "sit opposite to," from ob "against" + sedere "sit." Of evil spirits, "to haunt," is from 1530s.

obsessed

1620s, pp. adj. from obsess.

Example sentences

She is abnormally obsessed with fear of wearing this collar.

Lately, she's been obsessed with reading the local grocery store ads and

ordering my sister to go on grocery runs for her.

He was puritanical, obsessed with cleanliness, and fatalistic.

Collectively, as a professoriate, we're obsessed with it.

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Matching Quote

"This life is a hospital in which each patient is obsessed with the desire to change beds."

-Charles Baudelaire