compulsive
compelling; compulsory.
Psychology.
pertaining to, characterized by, or involving compulsion: a compulsive desire to cry.
governed by an obsessive need to conform, be scrupulous, etc., coupled with an inability to express positive emotions.
Psychology. a person whose behavior is governed by a compulsion.
Origin of compulsive
1Other words from compulsive
- com·pul·sive·ly, adverb
- com·pul·sive·ness, com·pul·siv·i·ty [kuhm-puhl-siv-i-tee, kom-puhl-], /kəm pʌlˈsɪv ɪ ti, ˌkɒm pʌl-/, noun
- non·com·pul·sive, adjective
- non·com·pul·sive·ly, adverb
- qua·si-com·pul·sive, adjective
- qua·si-com·pul·sive·ly, adverb
- un·com·pul·sive, adjective
- un·com·pul·sive·ly, adverb
Words that may be confused with compulsive
- compulsive , impulsive
Words Nearby compulsive
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use compulsive in a sentence
The Martin House’s 12 ft by 15 ft bursar’s office, as it was called, was designed to accommodate the owner’s compulsive work habits.
How Frank Lloyd Wright designed a distraction-free home office | Anne Quito | October 24, 2020 | QuartzDetermined, stubborn, and tireless, she was motivated by what she described as an “almost compulsive desire to be busy and useful.”
This medication raised their levels of dopamine, which helped with the motor problems, but it also turned them into compulsive gamblers.
Your Brain Makes You a Different Person Every Day - Issue 91: The Amazing Brain | Steve Paulson | October 14, 2020 | NautilusThere were all these people with Parkinson’s disease who started becoming compulsive gamblers.
Your Brain Makes You a Different Person Every Day - Issue 91: The Amazing Brain | Steve Paulson | October 14, 2020 | NautilusOther research and reporting suggest the pandemic has exacerbated symptoms for people with disordered eating, substance use disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and other diagnoses.
What mental health professionals have learned six months into pandemic care | Marion Renault | October 8, 2020 | Popular-Science
But it looks like it was created by crazed person with obsessive-compulsive behavior.
His detail seeking in our meetings is compulsive and a little nuts.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSex and passion; compulsive, life-changing, soul-altering sex, all to be made more explicit than he had done in the past.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTcompulsive writing, or hypergraphia, is a well-known, if uncommon, symptom of temporal lobe epilepsy.
The Seizure Medication That Turns You Into a Poet | Cat Ferguson | September 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“Obsessive-compulsive tendencies really help to enhance abilities,” Okun said.
Why Tourette’s May Be Tim Howard’s Secret Weapon on the Field | Michael Daly | July 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNowhere in the world, I am sure, does the "to be continued in our next" interest take hold on one with such a compulsive grip.
America To-day, Observations and Reflections | William ArcherIn the hopes of averting so abhorrent, but compulsive an alternative.
Social England under the Regency, Vol. 1 (of 2) | John Ashton.He still takes us by the throat, but his grip is not compulsive.
The Life of Francis Thompson | Everard MeynellPolitical and legal differences can be settled either by amicable or by compulsive means.
International Law. A Treatise. Volume II (of 2) | Lassa Francis OppenheimWar is very often enumerated among the compulsive means of settling international differences.
International Law. A Treatise. Volume II (of 2) | Lassa Francis Oppenheim
British Dictionary definitions for compulsive
/ (kəmˈpʌlsɪv) /
relating to or involving compulsion
psychiatry an individual who is subject to a psychological compulsion
Derived forms of compulsive
- compulsively, adverb
- compulsiveness, 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
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