What does possess mean?
Definitions for possess
pəˈzɛspos·sess
Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word possess.
Princeton's WordNet
possessverb
have as an attribute, knowledge, or skill
"he possesses great knowledge about the Middle East"
own, have, possessverb
have ownership or possession of
"He owns three houses in Florida"; "How many cars does she have?"
possessverb
enter into and control, as of emotions or ideas
"What possessed you to buy this house?"; "A terrible rage possessed her"
Wiktionary
possessverb
To have; to have ownership of.
He does not even possess a working telephone.
possessverb
To take control of someone's body or mind, especially in a supernatural manner.
They thought he was possessed by evil spirits.
possessverb
To occupy.
possessverb
To vest ownership in (someone) with ownership.
Etymology: * From possessus, past participle of possīdeō.
Webster Dictionary
Possessverb
to occupy in person; to hold or actually have in one's own keeping; to have and to hold
Possessverb
to have the legal title to; to have a just right to; to be master of; to own; to have; as, to possess property, an estate, a book
Possessverb
to obtain occupation or possession of; to accomplish; to gain; to seize
Possessverb
to enter into and influence; to control the will of; to fill; to affect; -- said especially of evil spirits, passions, etc
Possessverb
to put in possession; to make the owner or holder of property, power, knowledge, etc.; to acquaint; to inform; -- followed by of or with before the thing possessed, and now commonly used reflexively
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Possess
poz-zes′, v.t. to have or hold as an owner: to have the control of: to inform: to seize: to enter into and influence: to put (one's self) in possession (of): (Spens.) to achieve: (Shak.) put in possession of information, convince.—adj. Possessed′, influenced by some evil spirit, demented.—n. Posses′sion, act of possessing: the thing possessed: a country taken by conquest: property: state of being possessed, as by an evil spirit: madness.—adjs. Posses′sionary, Posses′sive, pertaining to or denoting possession.—n. Posses′sive (gram.), a pronoun denoting possession: the possessive case.—adv. Posses′sively.—n. Posses′sor, one who possesses: owner: proprietor: occupant.—adj. Posses′sory, relating to a possessor or possession: having possession.—Give possession, to put in another's power or occupancy; Take possession, to assume ownership; Writ of possession, a process directing a sheriff to put a person in possession of property recovered in ejectment. [Fr.,—L. possidēre, possessum.]
British National Corpus
Verbs Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'possess' in Verbs Frequency: #463
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of possess in Chaldean Numerology is: 5
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of possess in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4
Examples of possess in a Sentence
You don't pay back your parents. You can't. The debt you owe them gets collected by your children, who hand it down in turn. It's a sort of entailment. Or if you don't have children of the body, it's left as a debt to your common humanity. Or to your God, if you possess or are possessed by one.
To be ourselves we must have ourselves – possess, if need be re-possess, our life-stories. We must “recollect” ourselves, recollect the inner drama, the narrative, of ourselves. A man needs such a narrative, a continuous inner narrative, to maintain his identity, his self.
We all acquire two types of scars; one is visible for all to see and the other resides deep within us. Both possess pain but others can only determine if the external scars have healed. The emotional scars within are usually more painful and can linger for years.
Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it.
We are born to inquire into truth; it belongs to a greater to possess it.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for possess
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- تملك, امتلك, ملكArabic
- posseïrCatalan, Valencian
- vlastnit, posednoutCzech
- besidde, eje, besætteDanish
- besitzenGerman
- posedi, haviEsperanto
- poseerSpanish
- داشتنPersian
- [[ottaa]] [[valtaansa]], omistaaFinnish
- posséder, s'emparer deFrench
- अधिकारीHindi
- hatalmába kerít, birtokol, van, bírHungarian
- 支配, 取り憑く, 占有, 所持, 所有Japanese
- ფლობსGeorgian
- possideo, habeo, teneoLatin
- innehaNorwegian
- opętać, posiadaćPolish
- possuirPortuguese
- poseda, avea, dețineRomanian
- обладать, владеть, иметьRussian
- பெற்றிருக்கவில்லைTamil
- sahip olmakTurkish
- کے پاسUrdu
- sở hữuVietnamese
- 具备Chinese
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"possess." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2022. Web. 25 Jun 2022. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/possess>.
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