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What is obsession?

Obsession

 [uhb-sesh-uhn]   Origin

ob·ses·sion

   [uhb-sesh-uhn]
noun
1.
the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.
2.
the idea, image, desire, feeling, etc., itself.
3.
the state of being obsessed.
4.
the act of obsessing.
Origin:
1505–15; < Latin obsessiōn- (stem of obsessiō) blockade, siege, equivalent to obsess(us) (see obsess) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms
ob·ses·sion·al, adjective
non·ob·ses·sion, noun
non·ob·ses·sion·al, adjective
self-ob·ses·sion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Obsession is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
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
obsession (əbˈsɛʃən)
 
—n
1.  psychiatry a persistent idea or impulse that continually forces its way into consciousness, often associated with anxiety and mental illness
2.  a persistent preoccupation, idea, or feeling
3.  the act of obsessing or the state of being obsessed
 
ob'sessional
 
—adj
 
ob'sessionally
 
—adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

obsession
1510s, "action of besieging," from L. obsessionem, noun of action from obsidere (see obsess). Later, "hostile action of an evil spirit" (like possession but without the spirit actually inhabiting the body). Transferred sense of "action of anything which engrosses the mind"
EXPAND
is from 1670s. Psychological sense is from 1901.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

obsession ob·ses·sion (əb-sěsh'ən, ŏb-)
n.

  1. Compulsive preoccupation with an idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.

  2. A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion.

ob·ses'sion·al adj.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

obsession definition


A preoccupation with a feeling or idea. In psychology, an obsession is similar to a compulsion.

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