obsessive

[ uhb-ses-iv ]

adjective

1. being, pertaining to, or resembling an obsession:

   an obsessive fear of illness.

2. causing an obsession.
3. excessive, especially extremely so.

noun

1. someone who has an obsession or obsessions; a person who thinks or behaves in an obsessive manner.

obsessive

/ əbˈsɛsɪv /

adjective

1. psychiatry motivated by a persistent overriding idea or impulse, often associated with anxiety and mental illness
2. continually preoccupied with a particular activity, person, or thing

noun

1. psychiatry a person subject to obsession
2. a person who is continually preoccupied with a particular activity, person, or thing

Derived Forms

• obˈsessiveness, noun
• obˈsessively, adverb

Other Words From

• ob·sessive·ly adverb
• ob·sessive·ness noun
• nonob·sessive adjective
• nonob·sessive·ly adverb
• nonob·sessive·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of obsessive¹

First recorded in 1910–15; obsess(ion) + -ive

Example Sentences

After Redmayne signed on as the star and an executive producer, the team went out to Lynch to play Bianca, an intelligence officer with an expertise in firearms and a similarly obsessive approach to her work.

From Los Angeles Times

“What I found intriguing was you have these two characters, both of whom are meticulous and obsessive and relentless and talented and two sides of the same coin, on this one-way path to collision,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times

But Currentzis is also controversial because he is, on one hand, an obsessive perfectionist and, on the other, a showy radical with highly original musical ideas.

From Los Angeles Times

“It won’t be the obsessive fascination with this novel phenomenon that it was last time,” said Andrew Heyward, a former CBS News president who now advises media companies.

From Los Angeles Times

But Schneider’s normcore exterior belies an undercurrent of intensity: There’s a particular, obsessive mindset required to conceive of and execute such an ambitious public expedition every year over two decades.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bigoted
• dogmatic
• enthusiastic
• fervent
• frenzied
• impassioned
• narrow-minded
• passionate
• rabid
• single-minded
• stubborn
• violent
• zealous