obsession English · revision 15264

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1513|origins=la sedeō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /əbˈsɛʃən/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|obsession]] and directly [[la|obsessiō|t=siege, blockade]],^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) from [[m|la|obsessus]], the past participle of [[m|la|obsideō|t=to besiege]] (see [[obsess]]),^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|la|ob-|t=against]] and [[m|la|sedeō|t=to sit]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The action of besieging: 1513 in the OED, the 1510s in Etymonline;^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Merriam-Webster gives 1548.^(MWU 2024) The sense is now obsolete.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==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.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) From the 1670s it was used of any fixed idea or influence that engrosses the mind,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and the psychological sense, an idea or image that intrudes on the mind against the person's will, is from 1901.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1513 – a siege.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1605 – besetting by an evil spirit.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1680 – a fixed idea that assails the mind.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1901 – the psychological sense.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A persistent [[preoccupation]] with an idea, feeling or person.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(psychiatry)'' A persistent, unwanted idea or impulse that keeps forcing its way into the mind, often with [[anxiety]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[obsessional]]

+ * [[obsessionally]]

+ * [[self-obsession]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[obsess]]

+ * [[obsessed]]

+ * [[obsessive]]

+ * [[possession]]

+ * [[siege]]

+ * [[sit]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}