possess

Verb

Meaning

To occupy in person; to hold or actually have in one's own keeping; to have and to hold.

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.

To obtain occupation or possession of; to accomplish; to gain; to seize.

To enter into and influence; to control the will of; to fill; to affect; -- said especially of evil spirits, passions, etc.

To put in possession; to make the owner or holder of property, power, knowledge, etc.; to acquaint; to inform; -- followed by of or with before the thing possessed, and now commonly used reflexively.

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Examples

If you possess something but you can't give it away, then you don't possess it... it possesses you. Frank Sinatra

We cannot with all our heart forgive someone who does us wrong unless we possess real knowledge. For this knowledge shows us that we deserve all we experience. Marcus Eremita

A man does not possess all the gifts, lest he think that grace is nature. John Chrysostom

In my homeland I possess one hundred horses, yet if I go, I go on foot. Hindi Proverb

Though you possess prudence, old man, do not despise advice. Panamanian Proverb

You already possess everything necessary to become great. Native American Proverb

Close letter words and terms