Meanings
comparative more possessive · superlative most possessive
- Of or pertaining to ownership or possession.
- grammarIndicating ownership, possession, origin, etc.
plural possessives
- countableuncountablegrammarThe possessive case.
- countableuncountablegrammarA word used to indicate the possessive case.
Take the rule about pronouns and possessives that Mr. Keegan cited in his challenge to the testing service.
2023 January 6, Geoffery Nunberg, “The Nation: Parts of Speech; The Bloody Crossroads of Grammar and Politics”, in The New York Times1 more example
The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal all do the opposite, opting for ’s to mark a singular possessive and a simple apostrophe for plural possessive (Harrises’ and Walzes’).
2024 October 8, Remy Tumin, “Is It Harris’ or Harris’s? Add a Walz, and It’s Even Trickier.”, in The New York Times
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveserving to express or indicate possession
adjectivedesirous of owning
adjectivehaving or showing a desire to control or dominate
nounthe case expressing ownership
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinpossessivus“of or pertaining to possession”
- Middle Frenchpossessif
- Englishpossessive
From Middle French possessif, from Latin possessivus (“of or pertaining to possession”), from possessiō (“possessing”), from possidēre (“to possess”). By surface analysis, possess + -ive.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek κτητικός
- κτητικός (ktētikós)grammar: indicating possession
Arabic تَمَلُكِي, صِيغَةُ اْلتَمَلُكِ
- تَمَلُكِي (tamaluki)pertaining to possession
- صِيغَةُ اْلتَمَلُكِ (ṣeyḡatu altamaluki)grammar: indicating possession
Bulgarian собственически, притежателен
- собственически (sobstveničeski)pertaining to possession
- притежателен (pritežatelen)grammar: indicating possession
Catalan possessiu, possessiu
- possessiupertaining to possession
- possessiugrammar: indicating possession
- possessiuunwilling to yield possession of
Czech přivlastňovací
- přivlastňovacígrammar: indicating possession
Dutch bezittelijk, bezittelijk
- bezittelijkpertaining to possession
- bezittelijkgrammar: indicating possession
- bezitterigunwilling to yield possession of
Esperanto posesiva, ĵaluza
- posesivagrammar: indicating possession
- ĵaluzaunwilling to yield possession of
Finnish omistus-, omistus-
- omistus-pertaining to possession
- omistus-grammar: indicating possession
- possessiivinengrammar: indicating possession
- omistushaluinenunwilling to yield possession of
- omivaunwilling to yield possession of
French possessif, possessif
- possessifpertaining to possession
- possessifgrammar: indicating possession
German besitzanzeigend, possessiv
- besitzanzeigendgrammar: indicating possession
- possessivgrammar: indicating possession
Greek κτητικός, κτητικός
- κτητικός (ktitikós)pertaining to possession
- κτητικός (ktitikós)grammar: indicating possession
Hungarian birtokos
- birtokosgrammar: indicating possession
Indonesian posesif
- posesifunwilling to yield possession of
Irish sealbhach, gabhálach
- sealbhachgrammar: indicating possession
- gabhálachunwilling to yield possession of
Māori kupu whiwhinga, pūriro
- kupu whiwhingaa word that indicates possession or the possessive case
- pūriroa word that indicates possession or the possessive case
- rirohangaa word that indicates possession or the possessive case
Polish dzierżawczy, zaborczy
- dzierżawczygrammar: indicating possession
- zaborczyunwilling to yield possession of
Portuguese possessivo, possessivo
- possessivogrammar: indicating possession
- possessivounwilling to yield possession of
Russian притяжа́тельный, поссесси́вный
- притяжа́тельный (pritjažátelʹnyj)grammar: indicating possession
- поссесси́вный (possessívnyj)grammar: indicating possession
Scottish Gaelic seilbheach, seilbheach
- seilbheachpertaining to possession
- seilbheachgrammar: indicating possession
Spanish posesivo, posesivo
- posesivopertaining to possession
- posesivogrammar: indicating possession
- posesivounwilling to yield possession of
- celosounwilling to yield possession of
Swedish possessiv
- possessivgrammar: indicating possession
Turkish sahiplik, aitlik
- sahiplikgrammar: indicating possession
- aitlikgrammar: indicating possession
- iyelikgrammar: indicating possession
Ukrainian присві́йний
- присві́йний (prysvíjnyj)grammar: indicating possession
Welsh meddiannol, meddiannol
- meddiannolgrammar: indicating possession
- meddiannolunwilling to yield possession of
- meddiangarunwilling to yield possession of
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with possessive
Cite this entry
possessive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/possessive
“possessive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/possessive. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “possessive,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/possessive.
Source: possessive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.