Meaning & use
possessiveness
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Meanings
noununcountabledisapproving
A strong wish to control or keep someone or something for yourself, often in a jealous way.
Grammar: Uncountable: use possessiveness, not 'a possessiveness' or 'possessivenesses'.
Patterns
- possessiveness toward someone
- possessiveness in a relationship
- a feeling of possessiveness
His possessiveness made it hard for her to see her friends.
Possessiveness in a relationship can lead to serious problems.
She was surprised by her own possessiveness over the new puppy.
noununcountable
The quality of wanting to own or keep things and being unwilling to share them.
Grammar: Uncountable; used about attitudes to objects or territory as well as people.
Patterns
- possessiveness about something
- possessiveness over something
His possessiveness about his books meant nobody could borrow them.
The child's possessiveness over her toys slowly decreased.
There was a sense of possessiveness in the way he guarded his garden.
Common combinations
- extreme possessiveness
- Extreme possessiveness can damage even a close friendship.
- possessiveness toward
- His possessiveness toward his partner worried her family.
- a streak of possessiveness
- She has a streak of possessiveness when it comes to her art.
Synonyms and how they differ
- jealousy
- Jealousy is the fear of losing someone to another person; possessiveness is the desire to control or own them.
- control
- Control is a broader term for having power over something; possessiveness specifically suggests an emotional need to own or keep.
- clinginess
- Clinginess means needing to stay very close to someone; possessiveness focuses more on ownership and control.
Opposites
Word family
- possessive adjective
- Wanting to keep or control someone or something.
- possessively adverb
- In a possessive way.
- possess verb
- To have or own something.
- possession noun
- The state of having or owning something; also a thing you own.
Commonly confused: possessiveness or possessive?
possessiveness vs possessive
Possessive is the adjective (a possessive partner); possessiveness is the noun (his possessiveness).
Practice
Her ______ made him feel that he could not spend time with his own friends.
Choose one answer.
The sentence needs a noun as the subject: possessiveness. Possession means owning something, not the attitude of control. Possessive is an adjective and possessively is an adverb, so neither fits here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “possessiveness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.