compulsive
/kəmˈpʌlsɪv/
compulsive adjective: uncontrolled or reactive and irresistible.
Adjective
compulsive (comparative more compulsive, superlative most compulsive)
- Uncontrolled or reactive and irresistible.
- Jenny is a compulsive liar—don't believe a thing she says.
- Under this Act, the term "disability" shall not include—...(2) compulsive gambling, kleptomania, or pyromania; or[…]1990, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
- Having power to compel; exercising or applying compulsion.
- Religion is […] inconsistent with all compulsive Motives.a. 1729, Samuel Clarke, The Doctrines of Religion reasonable to be believed
Noun
compulsive (plural compulsives)
- One who exhibits compulsive behaviours.
compulsive meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
compulsive in Tamil
- இச்சக்குமாறாக செயல்படல், விருப்பத்திற்மாறாக செயல்படல்
compulsive in Urdu
- عادی
compulsive in Malayalam
- compelling, irresistible, uncontrollable
- നിർബന്ധമായ, നിർബ്ബന്ധിതമായ, ചെറുക്കാനാവാത്ത, തടുക്കാനാവാത്ത, അപ്രതിരോധ്യം, ഉൾപ്രേരണയാലുള്ള
- obsessive, obsessional, addictive
- നിരന്തരം ശല്യപ്പെടുത്തുന്ന, പ്രേതബാധപോലെ ആവേശിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന, ഒഴിയാബാധയായ, മാറാത്ത, അടിമപ്പെടുത്തുന്ന, നിയന്ത്രിക്കാനാവാത്ത
- chronic, inveterate, incorrigible
- തിരുത്താനാവാത്ത, മാറാത്ത, ദീർഘസ്ഥായിയായ, വിട്ടുമാറാത്ത, രൂഢമൂലമായ, അടിയുറച്ച
- fascinating, compelling, gripping
- ഹൃദയാപഹാരിയായ, മോഹിപ്പിക്കുന്ന, മയക്കുന്ന, ശ്രദ്ധപിടിച്ചുപറ്റുന്ന, പിടിച്ചുനിർത്തുന്ന, ഹൃത്
compulsive in Kannada
- ಕಡ್ಡಾಯದ, ನಿರ್ಬಂಧದ
Examples of compulsive in a sentence
- Freddy is a compulsive fondler: he needs the cuddly cat on his lap whenever his lover is out.
- Due to somniphobia, Jason has a compulsive habit of getting out of bed and changing his clothes at night.
- De Rocco, the compulsive rose planter, had surreptitiously placed the rose there.
Forms of compulsive
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more compulsive |
| superlative | most compulsive |
| Noun | |
| plural | compulsives |
Origin of compulsive
Borrowed from French compulsif, formed from Latin compulsus, past participle of compellere (“to compel”), from com- (“together”) + pellere (“to drive”).
Words formed from compulsive
Phrases with compulsive
Questions about compulsive
- What does compulsive mean?
- Compulsive means uncontrolled or reactive and irresistible.
- What is compulsive in Tamil?
- Compulsive in Tamil is இச்சக்குமாறாக செயல்படல், விருப்பத்திற்மாறாக செயல்படல். See Compulsive meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is compulsive?
- Compulsive can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce compulsive?
- Compulsive is pronounced /kəmˈpʌlsɪv/.
Words near compulsive in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: compulsive (page history and authors); compulsive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); compulsive (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); compulsive (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); compulsive (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-compulsive.wav.
Cite this entry: “compulsive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/compulsive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.