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obsess

[uhb-ses]

verb (used with object)

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.

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Obsess is one of our favorite verbs.

So is fletcherise. Does it mean:

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

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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. 2012.
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Link To obsess

Example Sentences

Almost all of us can find something to obsess about at a restaurant.

We stew and obsess and make tiny things into giant ones.

They obsess over an occupation that should have been ended decades ago.

EXPAND

Almost all of us can find something to obsess about at a restaurant.

We stew and obsess and make tiny things into giant ones.

They obsess over an occupation that should have been ended decades ago.

More than biology, their designs suggest the work of an artist left to obsess among tiny forms.

Please try to obsess a little less on your profits, and consider the well-being of your fellow human beings.

But that's the difference between people who obsess about fashion and people who obsess about food.

She begins to obsess about the possibility of some kind of fatal personal shortcoming.

Chinese are obsess with shoes, they simply loves them, hence with so many designs not available elsewhere.

So a lot of people really obsess over the rain, because it can mean the difference between a good year and starvation.

To women who obsess over and excessively pluck their brows, tough talk is sometimes necessary.

There are forums there for women ttc, and you can obsess all you want with them.

How anyone can obsess about the place beggars belief.

Racism and injustice obsess him, but he somehow avoids grimness and despair.

Both countries obsess over it and have nukes aimed at each other.

So, my message to all those who currently obsess about inflation, is don't worry.

As a gross endictment, they obsess on their rights without fronting their responsibility.

While reporters obsess over event details-from the.

What prompted fans and sportswriters to obsess over suspected juicers in the national pastime were numbers.

Which is to say: do it carefully, and then don't obsess too much.

They obsess about what a sad life she's had, what must have happened to her in.

In your case it dragged on for a couple of years being grad school admissions, but seriously man, it's nothing to obsess over.

Grad students are notoriously neurotic and prone to obsess over doing exactly what we're told.

If you're going to be fanatical about something, there are worse things to obsess over than fuel mileage.

We have a tendency to obsess and orate and that is something the driveway philosophers didn't go in for.

They signed on to obsess over ambiguous specters of doom, not us.

Second, leaders in multilateral efforts often obsess about the diplomatic process and ignore the realities on the ground.

Hyperakt has created free desktop wallpapers you can download on its site so you can obsess over the matches all day.

The drum begins to obsess her, as she increasingly questions her sense of self.

He wakes up in a hospital, unable to remember what happened, and this episode of amnesia begins to obsess him.

COLLAPSE

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
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

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.

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Quote Of The Day

"I think it's one of the scars in our culture that we have too high an opinion of ourselves. We align ourselves with the angels instead of the higher primates."

-Angela Carter

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