possessed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of possess.

   The estate was possessed by one family for generations.

   They possessed little beyond the clothes they wore.

   Note

   One regular -ed spelling covers both the simple past (they possessed little) and the participle used with have and be (the estate had been possessed for generations). In the passive, the verb's whole range comes through: possessed by can mean owned by, dominated by an idea, or taken over by a spirit, and only the surrounding words decide which. When a spirit is the agent, the participle is very close to the demonic adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Under the control of evil spirits or demonic forces.

   Like a body that something else has taken over and is steering from the inside.

   The priest was called to help a man the family believed was possessed.

   Her sudden possessed expression frightened everyone in the room.

   Similarbewitched, demonic

   Note

   The agent is introduced with by, as in possessed by the Devil or possessed by a demon. Exorcism is the cure such a state calls for. The fixed comparison like one possessed, which John Buchan uses in The Outgoing of the Tide (1902), describes frantic, driven behavior without claiming that a spirit is really at work. That half-figurative use is the bridge to the emotional meaning.

3. 3
   adjective

   Gripped by powerful emotions that seem to take control of one's behavior.

   Possessed by grief, he wandered the streets until dawn.

   The crowd seemed possessed by a strange, restless excitement.

   Similarconsumed, gripped, overcome, overwhelmed

   Note

   Here the controlling force is a feeling, not a spirit, and the preposition can show the age of the writing. Daniel Defoe writes possess'd with Fear in The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventure (1719). Present-day English usually says possessed by grief or possessed by excitement. Defoe's line also captures the core idea: the emotion takes over so completely that it shuts out reason.

4. 4
   adjective

   Having or owning a quality or thing, used in the construction "possessed of" followed by a noun.

   The new director was possessed of remarkable energy and vision.

   They were possessed of a quiet confidence the crowd found reassuring.

   Similarendowed, blessed, gifted

   Oppositedevoid, bereft, lacking

   Note

   The preposition decides the meaning: possessed of means having, while possessed by means being controlled. This use does not take degrees, so more possessed of is not idiomatic. Become possessed of means "come to own." Charles Dickens plays on this in Hard Times (1854), where someone else becomes possessed of Stephen's roses and Stephen becomes possessed of that same person.

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