Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Possessive |
PossessiveAdjective1. (grammar) serving to express or indicate possession; "possessive pronouns"; "the genitive endings". 2. Desirous of owning; "small children are so possessive they will not let others play with their toys". 3. Having or showing a desire to control or dominate; "a possessive parent". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "possessive" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1855. (references) |
Synonym: PossessiveSynonym: genitive (adj). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Possessive |
| English words defined with "possessive": ain ♦ behalf ♦ Her, His ♦ Its ♦ own ♦ Possessival, Possessive case, Possessive pronoun, possessively ♦ Their, Thine, Thy ♦ Whose, Whosesoever ♦ Your. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "possessive": Bayer name ♦ Double Possessives ♦ Flamsteed number ♦ Omit the possessive ♦ Possessive Case, Possessive of Nouns in Apposition ♦ Singular Nouns, Somebody else's. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Lyrics | And I'm possessive, it isn't nice (Lay All Your Love On Me; performing artist: Abba) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | They were aloof, and at the same time possessive. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Possessive" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Possessive" is used about 179 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 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 179 | 23,133 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "possessive": be possessive about smth. ♦ possessive case ♦ possessive instinct ♦ possessive pronoun ♦ possessive pronouns. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "possessive": non-possessive, over-possessive. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| 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. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
possessive pronoun | 24 | apostrophe possessive | 3 |
noun possessive | 20 | man possessive | 3 |
adjective possessive | 11 | jealous man possessive | 3 |
possessive | 10 | parisian possessive | 3 |
plural possessive | 9 | french possessive | 2 |
boyfriend possessive | 6 | its possessive | 2 |
grammar possessive | 5 | exercise plural possessive | 2 |
possessive suffix | 5 | possessive relationship | 2 |
noun plural possessive | 3 | case possessive | 2 |
possessive singular | 3 | form possessive | 2 |
possessive punctuation | 2 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "possessive"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | pronor (possessory, propertied), zotërues (cardholder, dominant, holder, overlord, owner, possessor, possessory, proprietor), i posedimit. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | ملكي (facultative, imperial, kingly, king's, mine, monarchal, monarchist, of mine, proprietary, regal, royal, royalistic, sovereign), نزع الى التملك, تملكي, صيغة الملكية (your), إقتنائي. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | който обича да се налага (managing), властен (authoritative, dictatorial, domineering, high handed, imperious, masterful, overmastering, peremptory, self-assertive), притежателно местоимение, притежателен падеж, притежателен. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 有欲. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | přivlastòovací, panovaèný (authoritarian, high handed, imperious, masterful, tyrannical), vlastnický, sobecký (egoistic, self centered, selfish), majetkový, laèný (greedy, greedy for, greedy of, hungry). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | ملکی (Agrarian), حالت مضاف الیه (Genitive), حالت اضافه (Genitive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | possessiivinen, genetiivi (genitive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | possessif. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | besitzanzeigend. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κτητικόσ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | ק אי (fanatic, fanatical, jealous, rabid, zealot, zealous), או"ב בעלות. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | birtokosi (tenurial), birtokos (genitive, haver, holder, keeper, occupant, possessor, propertied, proprietary, proprietor). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | orang yang suka menguasai. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | possessivo, opprimente (depressing, heavy, muggy, oppressive, overpowering, overwhelming). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 所有 (possessive case), 乃 (clause nominalizer particle, possessive particle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | しょゆうかく (possessive case), の (clause nominalizer particle, field, possessive particle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 소 (Owed, Owning, Possessing, Proprietaries, Proprietary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | shellooagh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ossessivepay propriedade (demesne, effect, estate, ground, lore, ownership, patriot, possession, property, proprietary, proprietorship, propriety, quality). (various references) posesiv (jealous), de posesiune. (various references) собственнический (property owning, property-owning, proprietary, proprietorial), притяжательный. (various references) -sa, -se, -san (emphatic pronominal particle attached to personal pronouns and to nouns preceded by the possessive pronouns: mi-se). (various references) prisvojni, prisvojan, posesivan, zapovednički (bossy, commanding, domineering, imperious, magisterial, masterful, overbearing), vlasnički (possessory, proprietary). (various references) posesivo. (various references) hagalen (acquisitive, avaricious). (various references) sahiplik (dominion, mastership, ownership, possession, possessory, title), sahip olma, sahip olan (blessed with, having, owning), sahip çıkan (making a claim to, protective), iyelik belirten sözcük, iyelik (ownership, possession), -in hali (genitival, genitive, genitive case), hükmetme (commanding, domination, suzerainty, sway). (various references) olluk. (various references) власницький (proprietary), присвійний відмінок, присвійний. (various references) tỏ ý muốn chiếm hữu khư khư giữ của, sở hữu, chiếm hữu tỏ ý muốn có. (various references) meddiannol (possessing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "possessive": possessively, possessiveness, possessivenesses, possessives. (additional references) | |
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"Possessive" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: posesive, posessive, possesive, possessif. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "possessive" (pronounced puze"siv) |
| 4 | -e" s i v | aggressive, depressive, excessive, expressive, impressive, obsessive, oppressive, progressive, recessive, regressive, repressive, successive, unimpressive. |
| 3 | -s i v | abrasive, abusive, adhesive, allusive, apprehensive, aversive, coercive, cohesive, collusive, comprehensive, compulsive, conclusive, conducive, convulsive, corrosive, counteroffensive, decisive, defensive, derisive, discursive, dismissive, dispersive, divisive, effusive, elusive, erosive, evasive, exclusive, expansive, expensive, explosive, extensive, hypertensive, illusive, impassive, impulsive, incisive, inclusive, inconclusive, indecisive, inexpensive, inoffensive, intrusive, invasive, massive, missive, nonexclusive, nonresponsive, obtrusive, offensive, passive, pensive, permissive, persuasive, pervasive, reclusive, reflexive, repulsive, responsive, submissive, subversive, unobtrusive, unresponsive. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-e-i-o-p-s-s-s-s-v" | |
-2 letters: speisses. | |
-3 letters: poesies, possess, speises. | |
-4 letters: eposes, espies, peises, pisses, poises, posies, posses, seises, sepses, sepsis, sieves, speise, speiss. | |
-5 letters: esses, peise, pesos, pisos, poise, poses, posse, seeps, seise, sieve, sipes, sises, spies, spivs, veeps, vises. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-e-i-o-p-s-s-s-s-v" | |
+1 letter: possessives. | |
+2 letters: possessively. | |
+4 letters: oppressiveness, perviousnesses, positivenesses, possessiveness, previousnesses, responsiveness, sportivenesses, vaporishnesses. | |
+5 letters: explosivenesses, progressiveness, purposivenesses. | |
| 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. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 6F 73 73 65 73 73 69 76 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. --- ... ... . ... ... .. ...- . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010000 01101111 01110011 01110011 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101001 01110110 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)P o s s e s s i v e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0050 006F 0073 0073 0065 0073 0073 0069 0076 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)50818585718585758871 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
