Obsess

//əbˈsɛs// verb, slang

verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To be preoccupied with a single topic or emotion.

    "Some people are obsessed with sports."

  2. 2
    haunt like a ghost; pursue wordnet
  3. 3
    To dominate the thoughts of someone. transitive

    "Thoughts of her obsess my every waking moment."

  4. 4
    be preoccupied with something wordnet
  5. 5
    To think or talk obsessively about. colloquial, intransitive

    "Stop obsessing over it, will you!"

Synonyms

All synonyms
hauntabsorbabsorb the attentionarrestbe rememberedbedevil

Example

More examples

"Everybody blows it once in a while. It's better not to obsess on it."

Etymology

From Latin obsessus, perfect passive participle of obsideō (“sit on or in, remain, besiege”), from ob (“before”) + sedeō (“I sit”); see sit, session, etc.; compare assess, possess.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.