Etymologically
Log in

obsession

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 15:54. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əbˈsɛʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French obsession and directly Latin obsessiō (“siege, blockade”),[2][3] from obsessus, the past participle of obsideō (“to besiege”) (see obsess),[2][4] from ob- (“against”) and sedeō (“to sit”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of besieging: 1513 in the OED, the 1510s in Etymonline;[5][2] Merriam-Webster gives 1548.[4] The sense is now obsolete.[2]

Semantic evolution

About 1600 it came to mean the hostile action of an evil spirit besetting someone, like possession but without the spirit living in the body.[2][5] From the 1670s it was used of any fixed idea or influence that engrosses the mind,[2][5] and the psychological sense, an idea or image that intrudes on the mind against the person's will, is from 1901.[2][5]

Timeline

  • 1513 – a siege.[5]
  • 1605 – besetting by an evil spirit.[5]
  • 1680 – a fixed idea that assails the mind.[5]
  • 1901 – the psychological sense.[5][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A persistent preoccupation with an idea, feeling or person.
  2. (psychiatry) A persistent, unwanted idea or impulse that keeps forcing its way into the mind, often with anxiety.

Word family

  • obsessional
  • obsessionally
  • self-obsession

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press