How to Use possessive in a Sentence

possessive

adjective
Definition of possessivenext
Synonyms for possessivenext
  • If you marry him, he is only going to become even more jealous and possessive than he is now.
  • Your more possessive side could emerge with a power play.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 11 July 2018
  • All this means our jealous and possessive sides will be showing up in full force.
    — Elizabeth Gulino, refinery29.com, 11 Nov. 2020
  • Of the clientele, Teeth (James Frecheville) is polite but possessive.
    — Amy Nicholson, Variety, 16 Sep. 2023
  • Harpster is at once fiercely proud of his program and at the same time possessive of the data behind it.
    — Brett Murphy, ProPublica, 28 Dec. 2022
  • DiFranco even brings out the protective and possessive In the media.
    — Jonathan Van Meter, SPIN, 8 Apr. 2023
  • Daisy is a 5-year-old German Shepherd who is very possessive of my mother.
    — Mika Brzezinski, NBC News, 1 Dec. 2019
  • But the running back un-retired to come back with his hometown Oakland Raiders, which is the type of thing that could rub some overly possessive fans wrong.
    — Adi Joseph, USA TODAY, 29 Apr. 2017
  • Don’t be surprised if a loved one is a bit jealous or seems more possessive than usual this weekend.
    — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 19 Dec. 2020
  • A lot of writers are really possessive about their own project.
    — Yohana Desta, vanityfair.com, 12 May 2017
  • Winona is lonely, paranoid, possessive, and full of clawing need.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2023
  • Angela could be highly possessive and extremely volatile if any of the Daddy’s Girls failed to live up to her requirements, Chae says.
    — Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 5 Nov. 2021
  • The bird reportedly lives in a pond near the ninth hole of the course and is infamous among local golfers for being aggressively possessive of the area.
    — Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 31 May 2021
  • Langella!), groovy sixties hairdos, and a plot twist that revolves around the use of possessive pronouns.
    — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 22 Apr. 2021
  • Possessive males trying to pass on their genes would prefer that females use their sperm—and only their sperm—to fertilize their egg clutch.
    — Joshua Rapp Learn, Smithsonian, 23 Aug. 2017
  • Dwan, who had opened her eponymous gallery two years before, had gotten used to this behavior from local artists, who were possessive of their small art scene.
    — Catherine Wagley, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2022
  • But what no one has ever located is what makes so many people feel possessive not just of the stories, but also of their connection to the writer.
    — Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic, 16 May 2022
  • Your daughter seems to be more possessive than protective.
    — Abigail Van Buren, oregonlive, 10 May 2021
  • Armand was possessive of anyone who was involved in the family.
    — Vulture, 2 Sep. 2022
  • Ukacierra loves the feud with a possessive madness, fears for its survival, and looks upon the incursions of the contemporary world with hatred.
    — Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, 23 Jan. 2018
  • Or will the nation that first arrives at AGI be possessive of it, becoming drunk with abject power and going power mad?
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 15 Aug. 2022
  • That has made people more possessive about their work, the people said, which has meant less collaborating with co-workers.
    — Mike Isaac, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2023
  • Wyatt sees this and spends basically the whole episode being jealous and possessive.
    — Rachel Kaufman, Smithsonian, 30 Apr. 2018
  • An early possessive shift by the Ducks ended with Getzlaf snapping another wrist shot past Talbot to start the comeback.
    — Eric Stephens, Orange County Register, 3 May 2017
  • Four years after vanquishing the Demon Nun and the evil, possessive entity Valak, things get hellishly twisted once again, this time at a boarding school in France.
    — Jordan Moreau, Variety, 20 Oct. 2023
  • Four years after vanquishing the Demon Nun and the evil, possessive entity Valak, things get hellishly twisted once again, this time at a boarding school in France.
    — Jordan Moreau, Variety, 8 Sep. 2023
  • To some, the character is a troubling figure whose possessive stalking of Christine is abusive.
    — Stephen Humphries, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Jacob is being very possessive about the baby, whose name is Renesmee(!).
    — Emma Specter, Vogue, 27 Aug. 2021
  • In the final image, a composite, Dallesandro appears naked and under Morrissey’s possessive hand, at the left edge of the mural, and also clothed and close at Warhol’s side, on the right.
    — Vince Aletti, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2023
  • But are the ghosts of Quint and Miss Jessel anything more than figments of the governess’s overheated, heartsick and—yes—possessive imagination?
    — John Banville, WSJ, 2 Oct. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'possessive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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