possession

Pluralpossessions (some meanings)

Formspossessions, possessioning, possessioned

1. 1
   noununcountable

   Ownership; the act or state of taking, holding, or keeping something as one's own.

   The painting remained in the museum's possession for over a century.

   The deed transferred full possession of the farm to the eldest son.

   Similarownership, proprietorship, retention

   Oppositeabsence

   Note

   Two constructions place the owner on opposite sides. In "the car is in my possession," the thing is the subject. In "I'm in possession of the car," the holder is. In both, the noun takes no article. That separates it from the owned object, which is counted: a possession, many possessions. Retention is a near synonym, and absence is the opposite.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   Something that a person owns; an item of personal property.

   Her grandmother's ring became her most prized possession.

   The fire destroyed nearly all of their possessions.

   Similarproperty, belongings

3. 3
   noununcountable

   Control or occupancy of something that one does not necessarily own outright.

   Tenants retain possession of the property even though the landlord owns it.

   He was charged with possession of stolen goods.

   Similaroccupancy, custody, control, tenure

   Note

   Holding rather than owning. The word comes from Latin possessio, the noun built on possess, and this sense keeps the act of holding in front. Railway work uses it as a countable noun: an engineering possession is a set stretch of time when engineers take control of a line. Rail reported in 2020 on a nine-day engineering possession planned to push a box jack into place.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A territory governed by another country rather than by its own independent government.

   Greenland was long administered as a Danish possession.

   The treaty forced the empire to give up its island possessions in the Pacific.

   Similarcolony, territory, dependency, dominion

5. 5
   noununcountable

   Control of the ball during play, giving a team the opportunity to attack and score.

   The midfielder won back possession with a clean tackle.

   Statistics showed the home team had sixty percent possession in the first half.

   Similarcontrol

   Note

   A word of match commentary that works at two scales. A team has possession at a given moment, and the scoreboard marks it. Over a half, a side builds up possession, or fails to. Chris Whyatt's 2010 BBC report on Chelsea 1–0 Bolton faults a side for being unable to do so. Here it is a share of the game, unlike the Australian rules tally, which counts individual acts.

6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The affliction of having one's body or mind taken over by a demon or some other supernatural being.

   Medieval chroniclers attributed the man's convulsions to possession rather than illness.

   Exorcism rites in many traditions aim to deliver the afflicted person from possession.

   Note

   Demonic possession is the fixed phrase today, but older English could treat the possession itself as an agent. Shakespeare's The Comedie of Errors (c. 1594) asks, "How long hath this possession held the man?" In that line the affliction does the holding. Enthusiasm once named the same condition, a sense now obsolete. Its modern meaning of eager interest grew far from that root.

7. 7
   noununcountable

   The condition of being overcome or controlled by intense emotion or madness.

   Jealousy drove him with the force of possession, blinding him to all reason.

   Witnesses described the artist working in a state of near possession, painting through the night.

   Similarobsession, frenzy, madness, mania

8. 8
   noununcountable

   In grammar, a construction linking two nouns or noun phrases, as in 'the cover of the book,' that can express ownership among other relations.

   Many languages mark possession with a genitive case rather than a separate word.

   In 'the cover of the book,' the preposition 'of' signals possession.

   Note

   Linguists use the term for a grammatical relation, and ownership is only one of its uses. Some languages split it in two. Alienable possession covers things that could pass to someone else, like "my car." Inalienable possession covers what cannot, like "my foot." Where a language draws that line, the two may take different constructions.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   In Australian rules football, an act of disposing of the ball, such as a kick or a handball.

   His final possession of the match was a long kick toward goal.

   The midfielder racked up thirty-eight possessions in a dominant performance.

   Similardisposal

   Note

   Australian rules football counts what other sports measure. Each kick or handball is one possession credited to a player, so the word takes a number: a defender "had 41 possessions" in a week's play. Commentators separate contested possessions, won under physical pressure, from uncontested ones received freely. The plural is a player's statistic, not a team's share of the ball.

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