How to Use possessive in a Sentence

possessive

adjective
  • If you marry him, he is only going to become even more jealous and possessive than he is now.
  • Some will even feel possessive.
    — Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 12 Oct. 2025
  • All this means our jealous and possessive sides will be showing up in full force.
    — Elizabeth Gulino, refinery29.com, 11 Nov. 2020
  • A lot of writers are really possessive about their own project.
    — Yohana Desta, vanityfair.com, 12 May 2017
  • Nancy is hurt and bitter that Jim left her, as well as possessive of you and her sister.
    — Jeanne Phillips, Dallas Morning News, 30 Mar. 2026
  • Winona is lonely, paranoid, possessive, and full of clawing need.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2023
  • Harpster is at once fiercely proud of his program and at the same time possessive of the data behind it.
    — Brett Murphy, ProPublica, 28 Dec. 2022
  • Daisy is a 5-year-old German Shepherd who is very possessive of my mother.
    — Mika Brzezinski, NBC News, 1 Dec. 2019
  • Armand was possessive of anyone who was involved in the family.
    — Vulture, 2 Sep. 2022
  • Possessive males trying to pass on their genes would prefer that females use their sperm—and only their sperm—to fertilize their egg clutch.
    — Joshua Rapp Learn, Smithsonian, 23 Aug. 2017
  • Of the clientele, Teeth (James Frecheville) is polite but possessive.
    — Amy Nicholson, Variety, 16 Sep. 2023
  • Chip's parents said Kim had become too possessive and overbearing.
    — Erin Moriarty, CBS News, 22 Apr. 2023
  • Wyatt sees this and spends basically the whole episode being jealous and possessive.
    — Rachel Kaufman, Smithsonian, 30 Apr. 2018
  • That has made people more possessive about their work, the people said, which has meant less collaborating with co-workers.
    — Mike Isaac, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2023
  • Dwan, who had opened her eponymous gallery two years before, had gotten used to this behavior from local artists, who were possessive of their small art scene.
    — Catherine Wagley, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2022
  • DiFranco even brings out the protective and possessive In the media.
    — Jonathan Van Meter, SPIN, 8 Apr. 2023
  • Jeff Probst got possessive about his contestants.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 4 May 2026
  • Veteran mushroom hunters covet their secret spots with a possessive fervor equal to that of any bass fishermen or deer hunter.
    — Gary Garth and Matt Every, Outdoor Life, 18 Apr. 2023
  • Veteran morel mushroom hunters covet their secret spots with a possessive fervor equal to that of any bass fishermen or deer hunter.
    — Gary Garth and Matt Every, Outdoor Life, 18 Apr. 2023
  • Beyond that, Simon simply comes across as a needy, possessive-obsessive jerk.
    — Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times, 29 Dec. 2022
  • In Carmen, a woman who loves freedom is murdered by a violent, possessive man.
    — Alison Kinney, Longreads, 10 Mar. 2018
  • What looks like just another silly man being silly on one side is a man being freakishly possessive on the other.
    — Jen Chaney, Vulture, 14 June 2021
  • But what no one has ever located is what makes so many people feel possessive not just of the stories, but also of their connection to the writer.
    — Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic, 16 May 2022
  • Alexander's friend Clancy Talbot said Arias was very possessive.
    — Gail Deutsch, ABC News, 13 Feb. 2020
  • To some, the character is a troubling figure whose possessive stalking of Christine is abusive.
    — Stephen Humphries, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Mar. 2023
  • But the running back un-retired to come back with his hometown Oakland Raiders, which is the type of thing that could rub some overly possessive fans wrong.
    — Adi Joseph, USA TODAY, 29 Apr. 2017
  • The bird reportedly lives in a pond near the ninth hole of the course and is infamous among local golfers for being aggressively possessive of the area.
    — Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 31 May 2021
  • The protagonist is a darkly violent, possessive young man named Jacob Cullen, who works in a manor house.
    — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 6 May 2026
  • Ukacierra loves the feud with a possessive madness, fears for its survival, and looks upon the incursions of the contemporary world with hatred.
    — Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, 23 Jan. 2018
  • Angela could be highly possessive and extremely volatile if any of the Daddy’s Girls failed to live up to her requirements, Chae says.
    — Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 5 Nov. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'possessive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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