Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

“possessing” is a form of

possess

/pəˈzɛs/ verb

Forms possesses possessing possessed possessest possessedst possesseth possest possesst

  1. verb To have (something) as, or as if as, an owner; to have, to own. “He does not even possess a working telephone.”
  2. verb Of an idea, thought, etc.: to dominate (someone's mind); to strongly influence.
  3. verb Of a supernatural entity, especially one regarded as evil: to take control of (an animal or person's body or mind). “They thought he was possessed by evil spirits.”
  4. verb (also reflexive, chiefly literary and poetic) Of a person: to control or dominate (oneself or someone, or one's own or someone's heart, mind, etc.).
  5. verb To dominate (a person) sexually; to have sexual intercourse with (a person).
  6. verb To cause an idea, thought, etc., to strongly affect or influence (someone); to inspire, to preoccupy. “What on earth possessed you to go walking by the quarry at midnight?”
  7. verb To occupy the attention or time of (someone).
  8. verb (also literary) To obtain or seize (something); to gain, to win.

Synonyms

inhold seise have hold own

Antonyms

dispossess unpossess go without lose

Etymology

From Middle English possessen (“to have, own; to obtain possession of; to inhabit, occupy”) [and other forms], from Middle French possesser, possessier, Old French possesser, possessier (“to have, own, possess; to dominate”), from Latin possessus (“possessed; seized”), the perfect passive participle of possideō (“to have, hold, own, possess; to have possessions; to take control or possession of, occupy, seize; to abide, inhabit, occupy; to dominate”), from potis (“able, capable, possible”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pótis (“master; ruler; husband”)) + sedeō (“to sit; to be seated; to be established, hold firm”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”)).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To occupy in person; to hold or actually have in one's own keeping; to have and to hold.
  2. verb To have the legal title to; to have a just right to; to be master of; to own; to have; as, to possess property, an estate, a book.

Etymology [L. possessus, p. p. of possidere to have, possess, from an inseparable prep. (cf. Position) + sedere to sit. See Sit.]

Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “possess”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “possess” (best matches first).

All 43 Sanskrit matches →