compulsive

[ kuhm-puhl-siv ]

adjective

1. compelling; compulsory.
2. Psychology.
   1. pertaining to, characterized by, or involving compulsion:

      a compulsive desire to cry.

   2. governed by an obsessive need to conform, be scrupulous, etc., coupled with an inability to express positive emotions.

noun

1. Psychology. a person whose behavior is governed by a compulsion.

compulsive

/ kəmˈpʌlsɪv /

adjective

1. relating to or involving compulsion

noun

1. psychiatry an individual who is subject to a psychological compulsion

Derived Forms

• comˈpulsively, adverb
• comˈpulsiveness, noun

Other Words From

• com·pulsive·ly adverb
• com·pulsive·ness com·pul·siv·i·ty [k, uh, m-puhl-, siv, -i-tee, kom-puhl-], noun
• noncom·pulsive adjective
• noncom·pulsive·ly adverb
• quasi-com·pulsive adjective
• quasi-com·pulsive·ly adverb
• uncom·pulsive adjective
• uncom·pulsive·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of compulsive¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; obsolete compulse, verb (from Latin compuls(us), past participle of compellere; compulsion ) + -ive

Example Sentences

The Martin House’s 12 ft by 15 ft bursar’s office, as it was called, was designed to accommodate the owner’s compulsive work habits.

From Quartz

Determined, stubborn, and tireless, she was motivated by what she described as an “almost compulsive desire to be busy and useful.”

From MIT Technology Review

This medication raised their levels of dopamine, which helped with the motor problems, but it also turned them into compulsive gamblers.

From Nautilus

There were all these people with Parkinson’s disease who started becoming compulsive gamblers.

From Nautilus

Other research and reporting suggest the pandemic has exacerbated symptoms for people with disordered eating, substance use disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and other diagnoses.

From Popular-Science

But it looks like it was created by crazed person with obsessive-compulsive behavior.

From The Daily Beast

His detail seeking in our meetings is compulsive and a little nuts.

From The Daily Beast

Sex and passion; compulsive, life-changing, soul-altering sex, all to be made more explicit than he had done in the past.

From The Daily Beast

Compulsive writing, or hypergraphia, is a well-known, if uncommon, symptom of temporal lobe epilepsy.

From The Daily Beast

“Obsessive-compulsive tendencies really help to enhance abilities,” Okun said.

From The Daily Beast

Nowhere in the world, I am sure, does the "to be continued in our next" interest take hold on one with such a compulsive grip.

From Project Gutenberg

In the hopes of averting so abhorrent, but compulsive an alternative.

From Project Gutenberg

He still takes us by the throat, but his grip is not compulsive.

From Project Gutenberg

Political and legal differences can be settled either by amicable or by compulsive means.

From Project Gutenberg

War is very often enumerated among the compulsive means of settling international differences.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• enthusiastic
• irresistible
• passionate
• uncontrollable