# possession

> English word · Noun · IPA /pəˈzɛʃn̩/ · frequency rank #3,777

## Definitions
1. A control or occupancy of something for which one does not necessarily have private property rights.
2. Something that is owned.
3. An ownership; a taking, a holding, keeping something as one's own.
4. A territory under the rule of another country.
5. The condition or affliction of being possessed by a demon or other supernatural entity.
6. The condition of being under the control of strong emotion or madness.
7. A control of the ball; the opportunity to be on the offensive.
8. A disposal of the ball during a game, i.e. a kick or a handball.
9. A syntactic relationship between two nouns or nominals that may be used to indicate ownership.

## Etymology
From Latin possessiō, possessiōnis. Equivalent to possess + -ion.

## Easily confused with
- **possessor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/possession-vs-possessor)
- **possessive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/possession-vs-possessive)
- **possessions** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/possession-vs-possessions)

## Common misspellings (12)
`opssession`, `posession`, `posesssion`, `possesion`, `possesison`, `possessino`, `possessionn`, `possessoin`, `possestion`, `posssesion`, `ppossession`, `psosession`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/possession