Possessed

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Pronunciation: /pəˈzɛst/

Definitions

1. Being owned, controlled, or having as a quality by a person or entity ; influenced or taken over by a spirit or supernatural entity
2. Having ownership or control over something ; experiencing a state of spiritual or paranormal influence
3. Describing something held or dominated by someone ; subjected to the presence or influence of a ghost or other supernatural power

Etymology: The verb "possess" is built from Latin "possideo," which meant "to sit down upon" or "to hold firm" in a physical sense. Its first element, "potis," meant "able" or "master," and the second, "sedeo," meant "to sit," so the core image is of someone seated on or settled into a piece of property, holding it by sheer presence. That is why the ownership sense sits at the heart of the word: to possess something was to be physically established on it. The Latin form "possessus," the past participle of "possideo," passed into Old French as "possesser" and then into Middle English as "possessen," meaning to have, own, or occupy. The adjective "possessed" grew out of that same participle, and its sense of being inhabited or controlled by a spirit developed from the older idea of occupying a space. A spirit that took up residence in a person was, in that older logic, simply sitting in possession of them.

Synonyms: owned, controlled, captivated

Antonyms: lacking, unaffiliated