| / English Dictionary |
POSSESSED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Influenced or controlled by a powerful force such as a strong emotion
Example:
by love possessed
Synonyms:
obsessed; possessed
Classified under:
Similar:
controlled (restrained or managed or kept within certain bounds)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Of, pertaining to, or like a demon or possession by a demon
Synonyms:
demoniac; demoniacal; possessed
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Derivation:
possess (enter into and control, as of emotions or ideas)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Past simple / past participle of the verb possess
Context examples:
“He is possessed of a devil!” they shouted.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I stole into his state-room and possessed myself of his revolvers.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Parted with; no longer held or possessed; incapable of being recovered or regained.
(Lost, NCI Thesaurus)
The medication is no longer held or possessed by the subject and is incapable of being recovered or regained.
(Medication Lost, NCI Thesaurus)
It was previously thought that only vertebrates possessed numerous and diverse protocadherins; they are crucial in setting up the wiring of the mammalian nervous system.
(First-ever octopus genome sequenced, NSF)
Wit, valour, and politeness, were likewise proposed to be largely taxed, and collected in the same manner, by every person’s giving his own word for the quantum of what he possessed.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
To the scientific student of the higher criminal world, no capital in Europe offered the advantages which London then possessed.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I began to understand what my friend meant when he said that his brother possessed even keener faculties that he did himself.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
No light which I possessed could clear up the cause for the lady’s sudden departure.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I learned, however, that day once for all that both Summerlee and Challenger possessed that highest type of bravery, the bravery of the scientific mind.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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