possessive

possessive [pə zes′iv]

adj.

[L possessivus]

1. of possession, or ownership

2.

a) showing, or characterized by a desire for, possession [a possessive child]

b) having or showing a desire to dominate, control, influence, etc. [a possessive mother]

3. Gram. designating or of a case, form, or construction expressing possession or some like relationship: in English, this is expressed a) by the addition of a final s (for nouns and some pronouns) preceded or followed by an apostrophe, or sometimes by the addition of an apostrophe only after a final (s) sound (Ex.: John's book, women's lives, boys' games, conscience' sake) b) by a change of form in pronouns (Ex.: I, my, mine; you, your, yours; it, its; who, whose) c) by of preceding a form without the possessive ending (Ex.: lives of men) or preceding a form in the possessive case (Ex.: a play of Shakespeare's, a friend of mine — called a double possessive): cf. GENITIVE

n.

Gram.

1. the possessive case

2. a word or phrase in this case

possessively

adv.

possessiveness

n.