Obsess

Definitions: Obsess

Obsess

Verb

1. Haunt like a ghost; pursue; ""Fear of illness haunts her".

2. Be preoccupied with something; "She is obsessing over her weight".

Date "obsess" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1913. (references)

Etymology: Obsess \Ob*sess"\, transitive verb. [Latin expression obsessus, past participle of obsidere to besiege; ob (see Ob-) sedere to sit.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Obsess

Synonyms: ghost (v), haunt (v). (additional references)

Crosswords: Obsess

Etymologies containing "obsess": Obsidional. (references)

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Is your own life so boring that you have to obsess about imaginary love triangles you're not even a part of? (NewsRadio; writing credit: Scott Bank; Jenny Banks)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Music	Obsess (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

"Obsess" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 87.50% of the time. "Obsess" is used about 8 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	87.5%	7	133,076
Lexical Verb (base form)	12.5%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	8	N/A

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "obsess"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		pushtoj (carry, conquer, creep over, enfold, engross, envelop, fold, hog, invade, jump, overcome, overreach, overrun, overtake, overwhelm, pervade, possess, reach, reduce, reign, rush back, seize, smite, straddle, sweep, take, take a fancy to, take possession of), mundoj (agonize, beat, crucify, drive, harass, Harrow, rack, rankle, sweat, tantalize, torment, torture, trouble, weigh down, wrack), më pushton, i ha shpirtin (madden). (various references)

Arabic		‏تنتابه الهواجس, ‏تستبد به فكرة ما, ‏أقلق (agitate, beset, concern, disconcert, disquiet, distress, disturb, ferret, fret, fuss, hop, molest, peck, perturb, rile, shake up, spook, torment, trouble, undo, unhinge, unsettle, upset, worry), ‏أزعج (ail, annoy, beset, bother, burn, discompose, disquiet, disrupt, distress, disturb, get in the way, get on smb.'s nerves, gig, gnaw, grate, hamper, harass, importune, incommode, inconvenience, infest, intrude, irk, irritate, jolt, molest, nag, niggle, offend, pain, peck, peeve, perturb, pester, plague, possess, prickle, put out, rasp, rattle, ruffle, saddle, torment, trouble, upset, vex). (various references)

Bulgarian		овладявам (dominate, govern, invade, master, overcome, overmaster, overpower, permeate, possess, pull together), обхващам (comprehend, comprise, embed, encompass, envelop, grip, include, overcome, overtake, pervade, possess, seize, span, spread, take in), обземам (fall, overtake, permeate, settle down), натрапвам се (impose, impose oneself, obtrude oneself), завладявам (carry, conquer, devour, engage, engross, force, invade, overcome, overreach, overtake, overwhelm, prepossess, seize, take over, take possession of), преследвам (bait, chase, chivy, drive, drive at, haunt, hunt down, lay siege to, martyr, persecute, prosecute, pursue, push, run, siege, tag). (various references)

Chinese		占据心思 (obsessed). (various references)

Czech		zachvátit mysl, posednout mysl. (various references)

Dutch		obsederen, beklemmen. (various references)

Esperanto		obsedi. (various references)

Faeroese		nerva (concern), gera seg inn á, finnast at. (various references)

Farsi		ایجادعقده روحی کردن , ازارکردن (Badger, Persecute). (various references)

French		obséder. (various references)

German		verfolgen (chase, follow, follow through, follow up, haunt, Hunt, keep, mind, observe, persecute, prosecute, pursue, to follow, to follow up, to obsess, to pursue, to trace, to track, track, tracking, trail), heimsuchen (afflict, attack, beset, descend on, infest, invade, overtake, plague, scourge, to infest, to obsess, visit). (various references)

Greek		κατακυριεύω (dominate), βασανίζω (afflict, agonize, bait, bedevil, excruciate, flay, harass, pester, plague, prey on, rack, scourge, torment, torture, worry). (various references)

Hebrew		לכפות (coerce, compel, dragoon, enforce, force, pinion), להשפיע במידה רבה, להטריד (annoy, badger, bother, fuss, incommode, irk, pester, plague). (various references)

Hungarian		zaklat (badger, bait, beset, harass, Harry, importune, inconvenience, molest, persecute, pester, to badger, to bait, to bother, to bug, to chivvy, to chivy, to fuss, to get into sy's hair, to harass, to harry, to importune, to inflict, to needle, to obsess, to persecute, to torment, to vex), megszáll (occupy, to lodge, to obsess, to possess), gyötör (exercise, maltreat, mortify, nag, pain, persecute, plague, pother, tantalize, to agonize, to bait, to crucify, to fag, to gnaw, to harry, to lacerate, to maltreat, to obsess, to pain, to persecute, to plague, to rack, to roil, to torment, to wring, wrung). (various references)

Indonesian		menghantui. (various references)

Italian		ossessionare (bother, harass, haunt, torment, trouble). (various references)

Korean		사로잡히십시요. (various references)

Manx		lhiantyn (attach, clinging, habitual, run on, stick, stick on, take after). (various references)

Pig Latin		obsessay

Portuguese		observador (close, eyewitness, observant, scout, scrutator, spectator, watcher), obsediar, obsedar, obcecar (haunt), perseguir (chase, course, follow, get after, hunt out, lay hold, obsessed, persecute, prosecute, pursue, run, stalk), desvairar (unhinge), atormentar (abuse, afflict, agonize, badger, bait, devil, discomfort, fret, gall, gnaw, grill, Harrow, Harry, lacerate, lay hold, martyr, mortifying, oppression, pain, persecute, pester, pother, prey, rack, scarify, tantalize, torment, torture). (various references)

Romanian		obseda (haunt, torment), urmãri (aim, chase, dog, drive, follow, follow out, give chase, go after, go for, haunt, hound, Hunt, intend, look at, make after, Mark, pursue, run, run after, seek after, strive after, trace, track, watch), preocupa adânc (absorb), persecuta (oppress, persecute, victimize). (various references)

Russian		преследовать (be on the track of, chase, course, ghost, give chase, go after, persecute, pursue, victimize). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		opsesti (besiege), obuzeti (come over, consume, engross, grip, overcome, possess, preoccupy, prepossess, smite). (various references)

Spanish		obsesionar (haunt). (various references)

Swedish		hemsöka (afflict, infest, plague, scourge, visit), ansätta (afflict, badger, beset, harass, heckle, importune, persecute, press). (various references)

Turkish		zihnine saplamak, tedirgin etmek, saplantı haline gelmek, kafasına takılmak (fester, prepossess, prey on). (various references)

Ukranian		гнітити (oppress, weigh down), вселятися, не давати спокою, заволодівати розумом. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "obsess": obsessed, obsesses, obsessing, obsession, obsessional, obsessionally, obsessions, obsessive, obsessively, obsessiveness, obsessivenesses, obsessives, obsessor, obsessors. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Obsess" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: absess, bossess, obcess, obess, obesses, obsas, obses, obsesse, obset, obsses, obssess, obsuse, obuses, osbis, oxses. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "obsess" (pronounced ubse"s)
3	-s e" s	assess, reassess, recess, success.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: bosses.
	Words within the letters "b-e-o-s-s-s"
	-2 letters: boss, obes, oses, sobs.
	-3 letters: bos, ess, obe, oes, ose, sob, sos.
	-4 letters: be, bo, es, oe, os, so.
	Words containing the letters "b-e-o-s-s-s"
	+1 letter: bossies.
	+2 letters: asbestos, bossiest, embosses, obsessed, obsesses, obsessor, sorboses, soubises.
	+3 letters: bespouses, biogasses, biomasses, bossiness, buglosses, embossers, noblesses, obsessing, obsession, obsessive, obsessors, soberness, symbioses.
	+4 letters: asbestoses, asbestosis, autobusses, babesioses, babesiosis, baronesses, biosensors, boldnesses, boninesses, boxinesses, boyishness, byssinoses, crossbeams, crossbones, crossbreds, lobscouses, nabobesses, obsessions, obsessives, obsolesces, obtuseness, omnibusses, outblesses, possiblest, robustness, rosebushes, sawboneses, scabiouses, snowbushes, sobersides, sodbusters, somberness, subprocess, subsectors, subsoilers, symbolises.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.