unhealthy obsession
3
6.1
- noun
- /ʌnˈhɛlθi əbˈsɛʃən/
- His unhealthy obsession with video games has started to affect his school performance.
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Watch on YouTubeHe has a friend, Lily, that has an unhealthy obsession with him.
- He has a friend, Lily, that has an unhealthy obsession with him.
Examples
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I have noticed a growing trend around the world: an unhealthy obsession with women's bodies.
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Found no great pit of vipers as PZ likes to imply, but a bunch of fairly ordinary people with what seems to me to be an unhealthy obsession with all things FtBs.
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Okay, you know that you have an unhealthy obsession - with this stuff, right?
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It's turning into an unhealthy obsession for them.
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Let's see you experience things without your unhealthy obsessions, huh?
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Your unhealthy obsession with my well-being is only making me more suspicious of you two.
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But critics question whether these behaviors constitute a real addiction or are just an unhealthy obsession.
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But ultimately, I think it would heal the unhealthy obsession that my generation has with Facebook and help us measure our self-worth by other factors.
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She's very sweet and terribly embarrassed because she's been trapped in this unhealthy obsession with Ryan and wants to talk it over.
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It all started with an unhealthy obsession with a demo back in 1994, UFO: Enemy Unknown—or X-COM: UFO Defense in the US.
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Synonyms
354
4.1
A strong harmful need to keep using a drug or activity even when you cannot stop
280
5.1
A very strong, lasting interest that controls your thoughts and actions
31
7.5
An unhealthy strong interest in someone or something that harms daily life
27
5.6
Thinking about something a lot and not noticing other things
2
7.0
Thinking about something too much and doing the same thing again and again
1
9.9
A very strong interest in one thing that makes someone ignore other things
How Obsessive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun combination where 'unhealthy' (harmful/excessive) modifies 'obsession' (intense fixation), so the harmful/excessive sense is directly derivable from the parts. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows basic English modification rules, making it immediately understandable to learners who know both words.
Etymology
Unhealthy obsession puts together unhealthy and obsession. Imagine a thought you cannot stop thinking about, growing like a small sickness in your mind and hurting your life. That's why it means 'an excessive and harmful fixation'.