• IPA: /pəˈzɛʃən/

possession

1. Control or occupancy of something for which one does not necessarily have private property rights.
2. Something that is owned.

   The car quickly became his most prized possession.

   I would gladly give all of my worldly possessions just to be able to do that.

3. Ownership; taking, holding, keeping something as one's own.

   The car is in my possession.

   I'm in possession of the car.

4. A territory under the rule of another country.

   Réunion is the largest of France's overseas possessions.

5. The condition or affliction of being possessed by a demon or other supernatural entity.

   Back then, people with psychiatric disorders were sometimes thought to be victims of demonic possession.

   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene i]:

     How long hath this possession held the man?

6. The condition of being under the control of strong emotion or madness.
7. (sports) Control of the ball; the opportunity to be on the offensive.

   The scoreboard shows a little football symbol next to the name of the team that has possession.

8. (Australian rules football) A disposal of the ball during a game, i.e. a kick or a handball.
   • 2019 In the mix: Who's pushing for selection for round eight? ↗ Australian Football League, 7 May 2019. Accessed 7 May 2019.

     Defender Colin O'Riordan had 41 possessions in the NEAFL last week to continue his outstanding form, while Ryan Clarke had 47 in the Swans' big loss to Brisbane.

9. (linguistics) A syntactic relationship between two nouns or nominals that may be used to indicate ownership.

   Some languages distinguish between a construction like 'my car', which shows alienable possession — the car could become someone else's — and one like 'my foot', which has inalienable possession — my foot will always be mine.

• ight (obsolete)
• (taking, holding, keeping something as one's own) owndom, retention
• See also Thesaurus:property

• (taking, holding, keeping something as one's own) absence

• Portuguese: invasão, posse
• Russian: владе́ние

• French: bien
• German: Gut
• Portuguese: possessão, posse
• Russian: иму́щество
• Spanish: posesión

• French: possession, propriété
• Italian: possesso
• Portuguese: possessão, posse
• Russian: облада́ние
• Spanish: tenencia

• French: possessions
• Portuguese: possessão, domínio
• Russian: владе́ние
• Spanish: posesiones

• French: possession
• Portuguese: possessão
• Russian: одержи́мость
• Spanish: posesión

• French: possession
• German: Ballbesitz

possession (possessions, present participle possessioning; past and past participle possessioned)

1. (obsolete) To invest with property.