MEANING
1. A persistent preoccupation that dominates attention and is difficult to set aside.
2. A recurrent intrusive thought, image, or urge experienced as unwanted and often causing distress.
Use it for
Compulsive investigation, inherited grievances, attention narrowing around one subject.Show repetition and narrowing of attention rather than merely strong interest.
Words that belong together
- obsession with the past
- develop an obsession
- lifelong obsession
On the page
His obsession with the missing portrait displaced every practical concern.
She recognized that solving the family mystery had become an obsession.
The notebooks charted an obsession that lasted thirty years.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- obsession
Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. Everyday usage differs from the clinical meaning of recurrent intrusive thoughts; intensity alone does not justify diagnosis. Plural obsessions. Derived adjective obsessive; adverb obsessively.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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