Possessive means wanting to keep somebody entirely to yourself. A possessive partner, possessive about her things, get possessive.
Applied to a relationship it is a warning sign rather than a compliment, since possessiveness restricts the other person's freedom. Applied to a child it means unwilling to share. In grammar, the possessive is the form showing ownership — the dog's bowl, my, yours — and it is one of the last places English still marks a case. Note possess, possession; and possessive apostrophe.
1adjectivepossessiveWanting to keep somebody entirely to yourself.
“He was so possessive that he got angry whenever she went out with her friends.”
2adjectiveshowingShowing ownership, in grammar.
“Add an apostrophe and an s to make the possessive form of a name.”
possessive is a quality of ownership.
Latin possessivus comes from possidere, to possess — potis, able, plus sedere, to sit. To possess is literally to sit as master of something.
Latin
possessivus — of or pertaining to possession
Middle French
possessif
English, today
possessive
Built from
From Middle French possessif, from Latin possessivus (“of or pertaining to possession”), from possessiō (“possessing”), from possidēre (“to possess”). by surface analysis, possess + -ive.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA