OBSESSION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Obsession

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/əbsˈɛʃən/ Listen

noun

Obsession n.

The act of besieging. (archaic)

The state of being besieged; used specifically of a person beset by a spirit from without. (archaic) "Whether by obsession or possession, I will not determine."

An excessive preoccupation of the thoughts or feelings; the persistent haunting or domination of the mind by a particular desire, idea, or image.

Hence: Any driving motive; a compelling goal; not necessarily implying a negative judgment, as does sense 3; as, the coach was obsessed with winning the state championship

Something that causes an obsession (3).

The state of being obsessed.

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Etymology of 'Obsession'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Obsession" Quotes from Famous Books

... young Haynes's particular good fortune. I have now a perfect obsession of responsibility. I see, in one dreadful vision after another, the things that must happen to Ursula Dearmer under the Commandant's wing, and to young Haynes and the Commandant ...

— A Journal of Impressions in Belgium • May Sinclair

... their work on their knees, thinking of him. In the excitement of criticism his thoughts wandered to his own work, and the women's eyes filled with reveries, and their hands folded languidly over their knees. He spoke without emphasis, his words seeming to drop from the thick obsession of his dream. At ten the ladies gathered up their work, bade him good-night; and nightly these good-nights grew tenderer, and nightly they went up-stairs more deeply penetrated with a sense of their happiness. But at heart ...

— Vain Fortune • George Moore

... I ever had. Since the War has changed everything and everybody, all one's feelings have grown stronger. I never was furious before—and I've been furious. I've felt savage. I've raged. And the thing I'm thinking of is like a kind of obsession. It's this—" he caught her hands again and held her face to face with him. "I—I want to have you ...

— Robin • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... very much this obsession," he said rising. "I will not attempt to reason with you again, Helen, but"—he made no effort to lower his voice, "the world—our world will soon know what manner of man James Turnbull was, of that ...

— The Red Seal • Natalie Sumner Lincoln

... but few such British utterances at the moment, and these few not by men of great weight either in politics or in commerce. The South was labouring under an obsession and prophesied results accordingly. So strong was this obsession that governmental foreign policy neglected all other considerations and the first Commission to Europe had no initial instructions save to demand recognition[662]. The failure of that Commission, ...

— Great Britain and the American Civil War • Ephraim Douglass Adams

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