obsessive

Etymology

It is formed from English obsess + -ive,^[2][3][4] although Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com derive it from obsession.^[5][6] The verb obsess is from Latin obsessus, the past participle of obsideō (“to sit opposite; to watch closely, besiege, occupy”),^[3][2][7] which is formed from ob- (“against, on”) and sedeō (“to sit”),^[3][8][7] from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”).^[3][8] Klein refers the Latin verb to the family of sedentary.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Characterized by obsession, or tending to cause or constituting one: 1897, in the American Journal of Psychology.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb obsess first meant "to besiege" (1503–1647) and, of an evil spirit, "to haunt or torment" (from 1440);^[2][3] it perhaps fell out of use in the early 18th century and was revived in the 19th,^[2][7] and Etymonline traces the sense "to haunt as a fixed idea" developing gradually from the 1880s.^[3] Older dictionaries date the adjective later: 1901 in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate,^[10] 1910–15 in Random House,^[11][6] and 1911 in Etymonline and the first edition of the OED.^[3][12] The compound obsessive-compulsive, combining obsessions with compulsions, is recorded from 1927.^[3][12] The noun, a person with an obsession, is recorded from 1959 in the revised OED,^[2][13] by 1966 in Etymonline.^[3] Alongside the clinical sense, the adjective is widely used of anyone excessively preoccupied with an activity or a thing.^[14][5][15]

Timeline

• 1440 – obsess, of an evil spirit, to haunt or torment.^[2]
• 1897 – adjective, characterized by or causing obsession.^[2][5][13]
• 1927 – obsessive-compulsive.^[3][12]
• 1959 – noun, a person with obsessive behaviour.^[2][13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Excessively and constantly preoccupied with a particular activity, person or thing: He became obsessive about counting calories.^[14][5][15]
2. Of, relating to or characterized by an obsession: obsessive envy.^[16][15][5]
3. Tending to provoke an obsession.^[5][10]
4. (psychiatry) Driven by a persistent, unwanted idea or impulse, often linked to anxiety.^[14][2]

Noun

1. A person who is affected by an obsession, or who is constantly preoccupied with something.^[14][15][2]

Word family

• obsessively
• obsessiveness
• nonobsessive
• obsessive-compulsive

Related words

• obsess
• obsession
• obsessional
• sedentary
• session
• sit

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin