possessed

• IPA^(key): /pəˈzɛst/

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• Rhymes: -ɛst
• Hyphenation: pos‧sessed

possessed

1. simple past and past participle of possess

possessed (comparative more possessed, superlative most possessed)

1. controlled by evil spirits.

   He was exorcised because he was thought to be possessed by the Devil.

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     Three days remained till Beltane's E'en, and throughout this time it was noted that Heriotside behaved like one possessed. It may be that his conscience pricked him, or that he had a glimpse of his sin and its coming punishment.

2. Seized by powerful emotions.
   • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 188:

     O what ridiculous Reſolutions Men take, when poſſeſs'd with Fear! It deprives them of the Uſe of thoſe Means which Reaſon offers for their Relief.

3. (not comparable) Followed by of: having; owning.

   The president was possessed of great wealth.

   • 1854, Charles Dickens, “Stephen Blackpool”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC, book the first (Sowing), page 75:

     It is said that every life has its roses and thorns; there seemed, however, to have been a misadventure or mistake in Stephen's case, whereby somebody else had become possessed of his roses, and he had become possessed of the same somebody else's thorns in addition to his own.

• like all possessed
• possessedly
• self-possessed