obsessed

adjective

ob·​sessed əb-ˈsest 

äb-

: preoccupied with or haunted by some idea, interest, etc. : being in a state of obsession

This was because on vacations my father was a man obsessed.

—Bill Bryson

Gatsby the obsessed lover, erecting an empire and stringing it with lights to impress a girl …

—Claudia Roth Pierpont

She was at once obsessed with being a good person and brutal to the people who worked for her.

—Rachel Abramowitz

But it seems we're becoming so obsessed with healthy eating, we are embarking on up to three different diets a year.

—Unity Blott

—sometimes used in combination

a sports-obsessed teenager

obsessedly

əb-ˈse-səd-lē 

-ˈsest-lē

äb-

adverb

"He wants her to be free of him and she doesn't know that she is obsessedly in love with him."

—Anthony Hopkins

Synonyms

• happy
• hung up
• queer

Examples of obsessed in a Sentence

the youngster was so obsessed with video games that he had little interest in playing outside

Recent Examples on the Web

After moving to Los Angeles for art school in 1956, Ruscha became obsessed with the city’s architecture, particularly on the Sunset Strip, that part of Sunset Boulevard that stretches for about two miles, like his old paper route, across West Hollywood. —Lucy McKeon, New York Times, 3 June 2024

Backdrop Home, in particular, has zeroed in with shameful, heat-seeking precision on aesthetically obsessed millennials who crave curves and architectural significance but can’t afford the homes that have them. —Liz Raiss, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2024

Weier and Geyser grew obsessed with Slender Man, leading Leutner to want to distance herself from Geyser. —Jessica Sager, Peoplemag, 31 May 2024

An Adult Bluey Fans group on Facebook has more than half a million members, and a Bluey podcast made by two obsessed moms has 1.6 million downloads. —Don Steinberg, TIME, 30 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1888, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing obsessed

• self-obsessed