Possesses

How to spell possesses

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce possesses

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does possesses mean?

1. verbHas or owns something, or holds a particular quality or feature.

Possesses in a sentence

• The museum possesses one of the largest coin collections in the country.

• She possesses the patience needed for long negotiations.

Where does possesses come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the third-person singular present form of 'possess', which comes from the Latin verb possidere, meaning 'to occupy', 'to hold', or 'to have as one's own'. That verb was built from potis, meaning 'able' or 'having power, master', combined with sedere, 'to sit', so the literal image is of someone sitting firmly upon and controlling property. English took the word in the late 1300s through Old French possesser, and the legal sense of holding land or goods came first, with the broader sense of having a quality or feature following later. The same sedere root, meaning 'to sit', also gave English 'sediment', 'reside', and 'session'. The notorious spelling trap is the pile-up of the letter s: there are two doubled pairs in a row in 'possesses', and writers routinely drop one, which is why fixing the four-s pattern in memory is the whole battle.

How the word is built

• poss- (from potis: having power, master)
• -sess (from sedere: to sit)
• -es (third-person singular present)