obsession
Pluralobsessions
- 1A pursuit or thing that drives a compulsive, possibly unhealthy fixation, or the fixation it produces.
Fitness had become an obsession that crowded out everything else in his life.
Restoring vintage motorcycles grew from a weekend hobby into a full obsession.
Similarpassion, fixation, addiction
Note
Everyday speech uses this sense lightly, even cheerfully. A pastime that "started as a hobby" and "turned into a complete obsession of mine" is as much an admission of enthusiasm as of trouble. Complete and full are its natural intensifiers, and the hobby-to-obsession arc is its typical story. Where the idea-driven sense fixes on a thought, this one fixes on something a person does or loves.
- 2An idea that drives a compulsive or irrational preoccupation, or the preoccupation that idea produces.
His obsession with conspiracy theories consumed every conversation he joined.
The thought of the missing money became an obsession that disturbed her sleep.
Similarfixation, preoccupation
- 3The condition or quality of being completely preoccupied by something.
His obsession showed in the long hours he devoted to the smallest tasks.
There is an obsession at the heart of nearly every great scientific quest.
Similarpreoccupation, fixation
- 4Influence or control exerted by evil spirits from without, as distinct from possession, in which the spirits take hold of the body itself.
The exorcist treated her obsession as an assault by spirits besieging her from outside, not dwelling within.
Reports of obsession troubled the parish, with witnesses describing unseen forces harassing the afflicted.
Note
The Latin picture in the word is clearest here: obsessio meant "a besieging," from obsidere, "to besiege." The evil spirit is cast as an army camped outside the walls, pressing on a person without getting in. Jessie Penn-Lewis and Evan Roberts draw the line exactly there in War on the Saints (1973): once the spirit gains a footing within, obsession becomes possession. The verb follows suit, so in such writing people are "obsessed by" spirits.
Practice
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Origin
From Latin obsessio ("a besieging"), from obsidere ("to besiege"), formed as obsess plus the suffix -ion.