# possession

/pəˈzɛʃən/ (US) · /pəzˈɛʃən/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/possession
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. something you own

noun · CEFR B1

something that you own or have with you.

For teachers: a physical object or asset belonging to a person; often used in the plural to refer to personal effects.

- Please make sure you take all your personal possessions with you when you leave the train.
- After the fire, the family was devastated to realize they had lost almost every personal possession they had accumulated over the decades.

### 2. the state of owning

noun · CEFR B2

the state of having or carrying something.

For teachers: the state of having, owning, or controlling something; often used in legal contexts regarding illegal items.

- The police arrested the man for being in possession of a stolen car.
- The defendant was charged with the illegal possession of controlled substances after a routine search of his vehicle.

### 3. sporting control

noun · CEFR B1

the time when a player or team has the ball.

For teachers: the state of having control of the ball or puck, allowing a team to be on the offensive.

- Our team had possession of the ball for most of the second half.
- Despite having seventy percent of the possession, the home team failed to convert any of their chances into a goal.

### 4. grammar

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

a way of showing that something belongs to someone in a sentence.

For teachers: a syntactic relationship between nouns or pronouns indicating ownership or a close association.

- In the phrase 'the teacher's book', the apostrophe shows possession.
- The professor explained how different languages use various morphological markers to indicate possession within a noun phrase.

### 5. supernatural control

noun · CEFR C2 · Literary

the state of being controlled by an evil spirit or demon.

For teachers: the state of being inhabited or controlled by a supernatural entity, such as a demon or spirit.

- The old stories tell of a man who suffered from demonic possession.
- The film explores the psychological and spiritual implications of a suspected case of possession in a remote village.

### 6. a colony

noun · CEFR C1 · Formal

a country or area that is controlled by another country.

For teachers: a territory or colony under the rule or sovereignty of a foreign power.

- The island was once a colonial possession of the British Empire.
- Historians analyzed the economic impact of maintaining overseas possessions during the nineteenth century.

## Examples

- Please make sure you have all your personal possessions before leaving.
- The home team had possession of the ball for most of the second half but failed to score.
- The legal dispute centered on whether physical possession of the deed was sufficient evidence of ownership in the absence of a formal contract.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.