obsessive-compulsive

[ uhb-ses-iv-kuhm-puhl-siv ]

adjective

1. noting or relating to a personality characterized by perfectionism, indecision, conscientiousness, concern with detail, rigidity, and inhibition.
2. Psychiatry. noting or relating to a disorder or neurosis characterized by persistent intrusion of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) or the performance of actions, as repeated hand-washing, that one is unable to stop (compulsions):

   obsessive-compulsive disorder.

noun

1. a person having obsessive-compulsive traits.

Word History and Origins

Origin of obsessive-compulsive¹

First recorded in 1925–30; obsessive ( def ) + compulsive ( def )