Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having the capacity to compel.
- adjective Psychology Caused or conditioned by compulsion or obsession.
- noun A person with behavior patterns governed by a compulsion.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Exercising compulsion; tending to compel; compulsory.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Having power to compel; exercising or applying compulsion.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
uncontrolled orreactive andunconscious - adjective Having
power tocompel ; exercising or applyingcompulsion . - noun One who exhibits compulsive behaviours.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective strongly motivated to succeed
- adjective caused by or suggestive of psychological compulsion
- noun a person with a compulsive disposition; someone who feels compelled to do certain things
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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TO THE ZEEs: Sorry to see you made what I label a compulsive decision.
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However, they do tend toward certain compulsive behaviors.
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Food obsession falls under the form of self-sabotage I call compulsive self-sabotage, the hardest kind of self-destruction to shake.
The Truth About Beauty Kat James 2007
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Food obsession falls under the form of self-sabotage I call compulsive self-sabotage, the hardest kind of self-destruction to shake.
The Truth About Beauty Kat James 2007
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The classic definition of an obsessive-compulsive is a person who repeats the same unsuccessful behavior over and over hoping that it will work this time or that mere repetition will bestow good fortune.
Borders suck 2000
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(I consign to parentheses the equally problematic issue of race, although few readers familiar with Austen will want to ignore the near-hysterical irruption of "the slave-trade" into one of Jane Fairfax's earlier conversations [271], as if in compulsive, belated echo of the formidable subtext haunting Mansfield Park.)
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What most people consider occasional thoughts or pursuits rivet the neural arousal system of the genius, the collector, and the artist, who vent their obsessions in compulsive activity.
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What most people consider occasional thoughts or pursuits rivet the neural arousal system of the genius, the collector, and the artist, who vent their obsessions in compulsive activity.
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If this view is correct, we can then derive a simple model: (1) genetic anomalies introduce defects into the structure of the reward cascade and (2) defects in the reward cascade cause behavioral distortions that we call compulsive diseases.
Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991
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If this view is correct, we can then derive a simple model: (1) genetic anomalies introduce defects into the structure of the reward cascade and (2) defects in the reward cascade cause behavioral distortions that we call compulsive diseases.
Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991
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