Dictionary definitions
- Enter a word for the dictionary definition.
obsess
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
obsess \ob*sess"\, v. t. [L. obsessus, p. p. of obsidere to besiege; ob (see Ob-) + sedere to sit.] 1. To besiege; to beset. [archaic] --Sir T. Elyot. [1913 Webster] 2. To excessively preoccupy the thoughts or feelings of; to haunt the mind persistently. [PJC] .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
obsess \ob*sess"\, v. i.
To be excessively or persistently preoccupied with something;
-- usually used with on or over; as, to obsess over an
imagined insult.
[PJC]
At all ages children are driven to figure out what it
takes to succeed among their peers and to give these
strategies precedence over anything their parents foist
on them. Weary parents know they are no match for a
child's peers, and rightly obsess over the best
neighborhood in which to bring their children up.
--Steven
Pinker (How
the Mind
Works, p.
449-450
[1997]).
[PJC]
