obsession
pronunciation
How to pronounce obsession in British English:
UK [əbˈseʃn]
How to pronounce obsession in American English:
US [əbˈseʃn]
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- Noun:
- an irrational motive for performing trivial or repetitive actions against your will
- an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone
Word Origin
- obsession (n.)
- 1510s, "action of besieging," from French obsession and directly from Latin obsessionem (nominative obsessio) "siege, blockade, a blocking up," noun of action from past participle stem of obsidere "to besiege" (see obsess). Later (c. 1600), "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" is from 1670s. Psychological sense is from 1901.
Example
- 1. But measuring poverty remains an obsession .
- 2. To some , this obsession with distant targets is beside the point .
- 3. Ivy league envy leads to an obsession with research .
- 4. I also need one character to harbour some sort of obsession .
- 5. Is the obsession of regularly checking email really helping anyone 's bottom line ?