Link Centre Dictionary

possess

pos·sess

US/pəˈzɛs/ fairly common literary

verb

1.

have as an attribute, knowledge, or skill

  • “he possesses great knowledge about the Middle East”
2.

have ownership or possession of

  • “He owns three houses in Florida”
  • “How many cars does she have?”
Synonyms
3.

enter into and control, as of emotions or ideas

  • “What possessed you to buy this house?”
  • “A terrible rage possessed her”

Origin

PIE word *pótis From Middle English possessen (“to have, own; to obtain possession of; to inhabit, occupy”) [and other forms], from Middle French possesser, possessier, Old French possesser, possessier (“to have, own, possess; to dominate”), from Latin possessus (“possessed; seized”), the perfect passive participle of possideō (“to have, hold, own, possess; to have possessions; to take control or possession of, occupy, seize; to abide, inhabit, occupy; to dominate”), from potis (“able, capable, possible”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pótis (“master; ruler; husband”)) + sedeō (“to sit; to be seated; to be established, hold firm”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”)).

Phrases

  • adversely possess

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Word family

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.