possess

Word family

pos·sess /pəˈzes/ W3 verb [transitiveT]

1 formalHAVEOWN to have a particular quality or ability 拥有，具有〔某品质或能力〕

Different workers possess different skills.

不同的工人拥有不同技能。

He no longer possessed the power to frighten her.

他再也吓不倒她了。

In everyday English, people usually say that someone has or has got something rather than possesses it: 在日常英语中,人们表示某人有某事物一般说has或has got,而不说possesses

They all have different skills.

他们都拥有不同的技能。

2 formal or lawHAVEOWN to have or own something 拥有，持有〔某物〕

Neither of them possessed a credit card.

他们两人都没有信用卡。

Campbell was found guilty of possessing heroin.

坎贝尔被判持有海洛因罪名成立。

► see thesaurus at own

3 what possessed somebody (to do something)? spokenREASON used to say that you cannot understand why someone did something stupid 是什么驱使某人（做某事）？〔表示不明白某人为何做傻事〕

What on earth possessed her to do it?

到底是什么让她干出这种事的？

Examples from the Corpus

what possessed somebody (to do something)?• I don't know what possessed me to buy such an ugly dress.

4 literaryFEEL HOT/COLD/TIRED ETC if a feeling possesses you, you suddenly feel it very strongly and it affects your behaviour 〔感觉〕缠住，控制，支配，影响

A mad rage possessed her.

她突然狂怒起来。

n GRAMMAR: Using the progressive

Possess is not used in the progressive when it means ‘have’ or ‘own’. You say:

He possesses many good qualities.

✗Don’t say: He is possessing many good qualities.

Examples from the Corpus

possess• Because of his gambling, he lost everything he possessed.• Hamly admitted illegally possessing a handgun.• The Western Highlands possess a beauty and a majesty found nowhere else in Britain.• The Church possesses a bone from the saint's leg.• Lipatti s performance possesses a clarity of articulation, a depth of sonority and an energy that shine through the crackly recording.• Like all towns and villages on Trinidad, it possessed a cricket ground.• Japetus alone possessed a distinctive geography, and a very strange one indeed.• Very few families in this area possess a telephone.• He possessed an unusual ability to learn languages quickly.• Too many nations already possess chemical weapons.• But with only two characters you can't hope to control everything, or claim to possess every solution.• Jo believed that demons possessed her.• A sense of fear possessed him as he walked into the old house.• Zorna is said to possess miraculous healing powers.• The number of nations that possess nuclear weapons has risen.• Let us assume that the entire being is possessed of 1,000 arbitrary units of life force.• He never wore a suit - I don't think he possessed one.• If a child is learning at grade level, by definition he or she must possess reasonably good intellectual abilities.• The rhetorical theorist does not assume that only some societies possess the rhetorical capacity to argue.• The caller claimed to possess valuable information about the boy's whereabouts.

From Longman Business Dictionary

possesspos·sess /pəˈzes/ verb [transitiveT] formal

1to own or have something, especially something valuable or important, or something illegal

The US is the only country that possesses global economic, military and political power.

Judges rarely send people to jail for possessing illegal drugs, but they jail people for selling them.

2to have a characteristic or ability

He possesses the qualities required to manage the organization’s varied commercial interests.

Origin possess

(1300-1400) Old French possesser, from Latin possidere

pos·sess verb →n GRAMMAR1 →REGISTER1

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