as in jealous
intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness
he was very possessive of his girlfriend's attention, and it was really starting to annoy her
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Recent Examples of possessive
Some will even feel possessive.
—
Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 12 Oct. 2025
That possessive, wide eyed desire is just one of the aspects that took Jane Birkin from a young British ingenue to a beloved — and extremely famous — fixture of French culture.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2025
Christy costars Ben Foster as Martin's manager-turned-husband James, initially depicted as loving and supportive (one shot shows Christy gleefully leaping into his arms after winning a match), but eventually revealed as possessive and dangerous.
—Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Lepkowski described her cousin's ex as possessive, controlling and physically abusive.
—Nushrat Rahman, Freep.com, 9 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for possessive
Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 12 Oct. 2025
That possessive, wide eyed desire is just one of the aspects that took Jane Birkin from a young British ingenue to a beloved — and extremely famous — fixture of French culture.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2025
Christy costars Ben Foster as Martin's manager-turned-husband James, initially depicted as loving and supportive (one shot shows Christy gleefully leaping into his arms after winning a match), but eventually revealed as possessive and dangerous.
—Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Lepkowski described her cousin's ex as possessive, controlling and physically abusive.
—Nushrat Rahman, Freep.com, 9 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for possessive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for possessive
jealous
Adjective
-
An out of shape owl emerged, followed by jealous girlfriend owl and the ADHD-riddled owl, who is far too distracted to hoot.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes.com,
30 Jan. 2026
-
There are a large number of women who either don’t like me or don’t like Lisa, and are jealous or whatever.—
Addie Morfoot,
Variety,
28 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Possessive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/possessive. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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