possessive
adjective
- wanting to own, unwilling to share
- having ownership, perhaps stingily and greedily
- expressing the genitive. linguistics and grammar
noun
- word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /pəˈzɛs.ɪv/ / /pəˈzes.ɪv/ / /pəˈzes.əv/
adj
Etymology: From Middle French possessif, from Latin possessivus (“of or pertaining to possession”), from possessiō (“possessing”), from possidēre (“to possess”). By surface analysis, possess + -ive.
- Of or pertaining to ownership or possession.
- Indicating ownership, possession, origin, etc.
- Unwilling to yield possession of.
“He is very possessive of his car.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle French possessif, from Latin possessivus (“of or pertaining to possession”), from possessiō (“possessing”), from possidēre (“to possess”). By surface analysis, possess + -ive.
- The possessive case.
- A 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.”
“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’).”