different between obsessed vs obsession

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b?s?st/

Verb

obsessed

1. simple past tense and past participle of obsess

Adjective

obsessed (comparative more obsessed, superlative most obsessed)

1. Intensely preoccupied with or by a given topic or emotion; driven by a specified obsession.
   • 1997, Philip Roth, American Pastoral:

     What was starting to unsettle him, to frighten him, was the idea that Merry was less horrified now than curious, and soon he himself became obsessed, though not, like her, by the self-immolators in Vietnam but by the change of demeanor of his eleven-year-old.

   • 1999, Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 28 Jun 1999:

     Strangely, although it is an international cliché that the British are obsessed with the weather, it is a fixation with minor irritations: will rain spoil the wedding, the Test Match, the bank holiday?

   • 2007, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day:

     Everyone lay around in a sort of focused inertia, drinking, handing cigarettes back and forth, forgetting with whom, or whether, they were supposed to be romantically obsessed.

2. Influenced or controlled by evil spirits, but less than possessed in that the spirits do not actually reside in the victim.
   • E. W. Sprague, 1915, Spirit Obsession Or a False Doctrine & A Menace to Modern Spiritualism, page 86, ?ISBN.

     Believing that an evil spirit is trying to obsess one is a dangerous belief, and when one comes to believe he is obsessed by an evil spirit, though there is not an evil spirit within a thousand miles of him, he will have all the symptoms.

   • 2007, James E. Padgett, The Teachings of Jesus, page 100, ?ISBN.

     It is true, that by the workings of the law of attraction, and the susceptibility of mortals to the influence of spirit powers, mortals may become obsessed by the spirits of evil...

   • 2010, Joseph Agbi, Living in God's Kingdom, page 71, ?ISBN.

     What of demon possession, whereby a person is not only obsessed or oppressed by evil spirits, but these spirits actually reside in such a person?

Translations

Anagrams

• debosses

English

Etymology

From Latin obsessio (“a besieging”), from obsidere (“to besiege”); see obsess.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?b?s???n/
• Rhymes: -???n

Noun

obsession (countable and uncountable, plural obsessions)

1. A compulsive or irrational preoccupation.
2. An unhealthy fixation.
3. Influence or control by evil spirits without possession.
   • 1973, Jessie Penn-Lewis, Evan Roberts, War on the Saints, ?ISBN.

     if an evil spirit counterfeits the presence of God, and comes upon the man as an influence only, it may be described as obsession; but when a footing is gained in him, it is "possession," because the obsessing spirits have gained access, and possess the ground they hold, up to the extent of the ground given.

   • 1999, Mary E. McDonough, God's Plan of Redemption, page 85, ?ISBN.

     They should see that a perception of their identification with the Victor of Calvary is absolutely necessary if they are to constantly and victoriously resist the obsession of evil spirits.

   • 2007, James E. Padgett, The Teachings of Jesus, page 100, ?ISBN.

     It is true, that by the workings of the law of attraction, and the susceptibility of mortals to the influence of spirit powers, mortals may become obsessed by the spirits of evil—that is evil spirits of men who once lived on earth—and this obsession may become so complete and powerful that the living mortal may lose all power to resist this influence of the evil spirits...

Related terms

• obsess
• obsessed
• obsessional
• obsessive, obsessively

Translations

Further reading

• obsession in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• obsession in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• bosonises

French

Etymology

From Latin obsessio (“a besieging”), from obsidere (“to besiege”); see obsess.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p.s?.sj??/

Noun

obsession f (plural obsessions)

1. obsession

Related terms

• obsédant
• obsédé
• obséder
• obsessif

Further reading

• “obsession” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• ébossions, obéissons