"possess" meaning in English

See possess in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /pəˈzɛs/ [UK, US] Audio: en-us-possess.ogg [US] Forms: possess [canonical], possesses [third-person, singular], possessed [past], possessed [past, participle], possessing [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb|possess|es}} [POS TABLE]
  1. To have or to own
    Sense id: simple-possess-en-verb-So1zQ0mb
  2. To take control of someone's soul.
    Sense id: simple-possess-en-verb-IusVm1T7
     
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "possess",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "possesses",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "possessed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "possessed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "possessing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "possess",
        "2": "es"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "po‧ssess",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He does not possess a car."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To have or to own"
      ],
      "id": "simple-possess-en-verb-So1zQ0mb",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The evil spirit was going to possess her."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To take control of someone's soul."
      ],
      "id": "simple-possess-en-verb-IusVm1T7",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/pəˈzɛs/",
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-possess.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "possess"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "possess",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "possesses",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "possessed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "possessed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "possessing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "possess",
        "2": "es"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "po‧ssess",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He does not possess a car."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To have or to own"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The evil spirit was going to possess her."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To take control of someone's soul."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/pəˈzɛs/",
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-possess.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "possess"
}

Download raw JSONL data for possess meaning in English (0.9kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-11 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-02-02 using wiktextract (f90d964 and 9dbd323). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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