"live rent-free in someone's head" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Often attributed to American advice columnist Eppie Lederer (1918–2002), who used it in her syndicated advice column in 1990.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "lives rent-free in someone's head",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "living rent-free in someone's head",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lived rent-free in someone's head",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lived rent-free in someone's head",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "live rent-free in someone's head (third-person singular simple present lives rent-free in someone's head, present participle living rent-free in someone's head, simple past and past participle lived rent-free in someone's head)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Mind",
          "orig": "en:Mind",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1990 March 8, Ann Landers [Eppie Lederer], “Breast cancer is in her family”, in Daily American, volume 62, number 210, Somerset, Pa., page 12",
          "text": "Gem of the Day: Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent free in your head.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Jennifer C. Hunt, Seven Shots: An NYPD Raid on a Terrorist Cell and Its Aftermath, page 32",
          "text": "The difficult bosses then get under their skin and live “rent-free” in their heads long after they've left work and gone home to sleep.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Joanne Bamberger, Love Her, Love Her Not: The Hillary Paradox",
          "text": "It may not seem that way, but this is a testament to Hillary's ability to successfully make such a mark on her opposition that she lives rent-free in their heads for decades.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be the perpetual focus of someone's thoughts, with that person having no control over this situation."
      ],
      "id": "en-live_rent-free_in_someone's_head-en-verb-P0Q00y0Z",
      "links": [
        [
          "perpetual",
          "perpetual"
        ],
        [
          "focus",
          "focus"
        ],
        [
          "thought",
          "thought"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly US, informal, idiomatic) To be the perpetual focus of someone's thoughts, with that person having no control over this situation."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "live rent-free in someone's mind"
        },
        {
          "word": "live rent free in someone's head"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Eppie Lederer"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "live rent-free in someone's head"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Often attributed to American advice columnist Eppie Lederer (1918–2002), who used it in her syndicated advice column in 1990.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "lives rent-free in someone's head",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "living rent-free in someone's head",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lived rent-free in someone's head",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lived rent-free in someone's head",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "live rent-free in someone's head (third-person singular simple present lives rent-free in someone's head, present participle living rent-free in someone's head, simple past and past participle lived rent-free in someone's head)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Mind"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1990 March 8, Ann Landers [Eppie Lederer], “Breast cancer is in her family”, in Daily American, volume 62, number 210, Somerset, Pa., page 12",
          "text": "Gem of the Day: Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent free in your head.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Jennifer C. Hunt, Seven Shots: An NYPD Raid on a Terrorist Cell and Its Aftermath, page 32",
          "text": "The difficult bosses then get under their skin and live “rent-free” in their heads long after they've left work and gone home to sleep.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Joanne Bamberger, Love Her, Love Her Not: The Hillary Paradox",
          "text": "It may not seem that way, but this is a testament to Hillary's ability to successfully make such a mark on her opposition that she lives rent-free in their heads for decades.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be the perpetual focus of someone's thoughts, with that person having no control over this situation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "perpetual",
          "perpetual"
        ],
        [
          "focus",
          "focus"
        ],
        [
          "thought",
          "thought"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly US, informal, idiomatic) To be the perpetual focus of someone's thoughts, with that person having no control over this situation."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "live rent-free in someone's mind"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Eppie Lederer"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "live rent free in someone's head"
    }
  ],
  "word": "live rent-free in someone's head"
}