possessive

[puh-zes-iv] /pəˈzɛs ɪv/
adjective
1.
jealously opposed to the personal independence of, or to any influence other than one's own upon, a child, spouse, etc.
2.
desirous of possessing, especially excessively so:
Young children are so possessive they will not allow others to play with their toys; a possessive lover.
3.
of or pertaining to possession or ownership.
4.
Grammar.
  1. indicating possession, ownership, origin, etc. His in his book is a possessive adjective. His in The book is his is a possessive pronoun.
  2. noting or pertaining to a case that indicates possession, ownership, origin, etc., as, in English, John's in John's hat.
noun, Grammar
5.
the possessive case.
6.
a form in the possessive.
Origin
1520-30; < Latin possessīvus. See possess, -ive
Related forms
possessively, adverb
possessiveness, noun
nonpossessive, adjective
nonpossessively, adverb
nonpossessiveness, noun
unpossessive, adjective
unpossessively, adverb
unpossessiveness, noun
Can be confused
possessive, possessory.
Examples from the web for possessive
  • Paleontologists are overly possessive of human fossils.
  • Cisco is picking up on that becoming dominant and possessive.
  • He loves to play with toys, and he is not possessive over them at all.
  • Later he starts to get weirder, and more possessive.
  • Of course, the possessive matriarch has become a cliche and a caricature customarily etched with warmly comic strokes.
  • From a watchful father figure he becomes a smarmy suitor and eventually a wildly jealous and possessive warden.
  • Name of the wage earner on whose record the overpayment happened, possessive case.
  • For instance, possessive apostrophes are rarely used.
British Dictionary definitions for possessive

possessive

/pəˈzɛsɪv/
adjective
1.
of or relating to possession or ownership
2.
having or showing an excessive desire to possess, control, or dominate: a possessive mother
3.
(grammar)
  1. another word for genitive (sense 1)
  2. denoting an inflected form of a noun or pronoun used to convey the idea of possession, association, etc, as my or Harry's
noun
4.
(grammar)
  1. the possessive case
  2. a word or speech element in the possessive case
Derived Forms
possessively, adverb
possessiveness, noun
Word Origin and History for possessive
adj.

mid-15c. (grammatical, also as a noun); 1550s in general use, from Middle French possessif (15c.) "relating to possession, possessive," and directly from Latin possessivus, from possess-, past participle stem of possidere "to possess" (see possess). Related: Possessively; possessiveness.

possessive in Culture

possessive definition


The case of a noun or pronoun that shows possession. Nouns are usually made possessive by adding an apostrophe and s: “The bicycle is Sue's, not Mark's.” Possessive pronouns can take the place of possessive nouns: “The bicycle is hers, not his.” (See nominative case and objective case.)