POSSESSED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does possessed mean? 

• POSSESSED (adjective)
  The adjective POSSESSED has 2 senses:

1. influenced or controlled by a powerful force such as a strong emotion

2. of, pertaining to, or like a demon or possession by a demon

  Familiarity information: POSSESSED used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POSSESSED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Influenced or controlled by a powerful force such as a strong emotion

Synonyms:

obsessed; possessed

Context example:

by love possessed

Similar:

controlled (restrained or managed or kept within certain bounds)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of, pertaining to, or like a demon or possession by a demon

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

demoniac; demoniacal; possessed

Derivation:

possess (enter into and control, as of emotions or ideas)

 Context examples 

There were other writers who possessed steam yachts.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Meg agreed at once, and promised her aid, gladly offering anything she possessed, from her little house itself to her very best saltspoons.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

But in that quality, as in every other he possessed, he only seemed to be the more respectable.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

What stores of knowledge they possessed!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

His only apparent ambition, like Dave’s, was to be left alone; though, as Buck was afterward to learn, each of them possessed one other and even more vital ambition.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

It was not joy only that possessed me; I felt my flesh tingle with excess of sensitiveness, and my pulse beat rapidly.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Another advantage he possessed was that of correctly judging time and distance.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

A finding referring to a medical device that is no longer held or possessed; incapable of being recovered or regained.

(Lost Medical Device, NCI Thesaurus)

But one of the good qualities which old Mr Fox had possessed, was always lacking, and the cat had continually to send the suitors away.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Very long has it possessed a charm over my fancy; and, if I dared, I would breathe my wishes that the name might never change.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)