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

Nicotine pouch use attracts younger adults as well, with 5% of adults aged 18 to 29 and 7% of those aged 30 to 49 reporting use, compared with just 1% of those 65 and older.

— Dario Sabaghi, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
Why private credit may avoid a ‘crisis-apocalypse’ Blackstone’s scale attracts outsized scrutiny, and investors’ attempts to pull money from its private credit funds earlier this year made headline news.

— Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of attracts

Verb

Yet, what fascinates is that Aristotle’s God isn’t a typical divine being who summons and shepherds.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Aug. 2026
Meanwhile, what fascinates aspiring neurologist Makenzie Stovall is the idea that AI is trying to emulate the brain — an organ whose inner workings continue to leave researchers dumbfounded.

— ABC News, ABC News, 3 Aug. 2026

Definition of fascinates

Verb

With your sisters Kim and Kylie breaking into the acting world over the last couple of years, with American Horror Story, All’s Fair and The Moment, is acting something that still interests you?

— Lexi Carson, HollywoodReporter, 21 Aug. 2026
There’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to talk about what interests him, in the right context.

— R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 19 Aug. 2026