OBSESSES Synonyms: 34 Similar and Opposite Words

obsesses

verb

present tense third-person singular of obsess

as in attracts

to hold one's attention to an extreme degree The TV show obsessed me so much that I was up all night watching.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of obsesses Business rightly obsesses over a leader's ability to create enterprise value over time. — Julian Hayes Ii, Forbes.com, 25 July 2026 Today, the media obsesses over the thoughts and fall-outs of AI visionaries like Altman and Amodei. — Michael Muthukrishna, Fortune, 23 July 2026 As the world obsesses over AI, pumping endless time and money into the next revolution, the obsessions and revolutions of the past are still there lingering — and some might finally be ready to flower away from the spotlight. — Evan Clark, Footwear News, 10 July 2026 And when one of them goes missing in the dead of night, they're thrust into a propulsive mystery pulled straight from the true-crime podcasts Sybil obsesses over. — Danielle Parker, CBS News, 30 June 2026 Tullman also hired Bre Smith as his executive vice president, an artist in her own right but also a veteran of hospitality at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey and elsewhere, and a woman with a hefty budget who obsesses over everything from the flatware to the level of customer service. — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 7 Apr. 2026 While the market obsesses over chips, the real story is Nvidia's 'five-layer stack' designed to squeeze hyperscaler margins and lock-in the generation of agentic AI. — Fred Imbert, CNBC, 15 Mar. 2026 Trump obsesses over bloodlines too. — Daniel Engber, The Atlantic, 22 Feb. 2026 The narrator cries, rages, longs for the living body and the lively boy, and obsesses over painful details, especially the bleak journey by sea that brought the remains of his beloved friend back home. — Kathryn Schulz, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for obsesses

Verb

Called the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, or RAGBRAI, the ride attracts thousands of cyclists from throughout the nation and world.

— Washington Post, Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2026
Seeking sense to her loveless existence, at least in the novel Ana attracts the predatorial lust of Magistral Fermín de Pas, her sensual confessor at La Vetusta cathedral, as well as the attentions of local Don Juan Álvaro Mejías.

— John Hopewell, Variety, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of attracts

Verb

What intrigues you about taking this fish, who’s been out of water, and throwing him back into familiar waters?

— Derek Lawrence, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Oct. 2026
The novel that will form the basis of Reacher’s now-in-production fifth season, 2015’s Make Me, finds Reacher visiting a midwestern hamlet called Mother’s Rest because the town’s name intrigues him.

— Chris Klimek, Vulture, 16 Sep. 2026