OBSESSION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Obsession

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/əbsˈɛʃən/ Listen

noun

Obsession n.

The act of besieging. (archaic)

The state of being besieged; used specifically of a person beset by a spirit from without. (archaic) "Whether by obsession or possession, I will not determine."

An excessive preoccupation of the thoughts or feelings; the persistent haunting or domination of the mind by a particular desire, idea, or image.

Hence: Any driving motive; a compelling goal; not necessarily implying a negative judgment, as does sense 3; as, the coach was obsessed with winning the state championship

Something that causes an obsession (3).

The state of being obsessed.

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Etymology of 'Obsession'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Obsession" Quotes from Famous Books

... marching to their doom singing their hymns of love as well as their hymns of hatred. It is these which explain the two million volunteers which in August, 1914, went to swell the huge German conscript armies. It is the obsession of that mystical German creed which explains the epic achievements of the German offensive and the even more astounding achievements of the German defensive. We may continue to denounce the crimes of Germany and the atrocities of the German soldiery—and I have personally denounced them until ...

— German Problems and Personalities • Charles Sarolea

... rising within the United States and falling into the Gulf of Mexico which is not entirely our own, the Appalachicola excepted." From this moment to the end of his administration, the acquisition of West Florida became a sort of obsession with Jefferson. His pursuit of this phantom claim involved American diplomats in strange adventures and at times deflected the ...

— Jefferson and his Colleagues - A Chronicle of the Virginia Dynasty, Volume 15 In The - Chronicles Of America Series • Allen Johnson

... border to graze, the prohibition being based on the ground that the herdsmen were really Italian army officers in disguise. In recent years the fear of Italian spies has become with the Austrian military authorities almost an insane obsession. Innocent tourists, engineers, and commercial travellers were arrested by the score on the charge of espionage. The mere fact of being an Italian was in itself ground for suspicion. Compared with the attitude ...

— Italy at War and the Allies in the West • E. Alexander Powell

... was to lower the curtain on her side, the side on which the procession was to pass. But, when she heard the drums close at hand, seized with a nervous frenzy at her inability to escape that obsession, or, it may be, infected by the unhealthy curiosity that encompassed her, she raised the curtain with a jerk, and her pale, ardent little face appeared, resting on both hands, ...

— The Nabob, Vol. 2 (of 2) • Alphonse Daudet

... wore my body out till slightest slight.[FN386] Would Heaven ye wot the whole I bear for love * Of you, with vitals clean for you undight! And all I do t' outdrive you from my thought * 'Vails naught and 'gainst th' obsession loses might: Couldst for thy lover feel 'twould ease his soul; * E'en thy dear Phantom would his sprite delight! Then on my weakness lay not coyness-load * Nor in such breach of troth be traitor-wight: And, weet ye well, for this your land I fared * Hoping to 'joy the union-boon forthright: ...

— Supplemental Nights, Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton

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