English Explanatory Dictionary

prepossessing

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Tending to invite favor; attracting confidence, favor, esteem, or love; attractive
  2. Causing prejudice.
verb
  1. present participle and gerund of prepossess

Word forms

prepossessing more prepossessing most prepossessing

Etymology

From prepossess + -ing. Attested in 1610s with the meaning of "getting possession of (ground or land) beforehand". The meaning "to possess (a person) beforehand with a feeling, notion, etc." developed in 1630s, acquiring by the 40s of the same century the meaning of "to cause (someone) to have a favorable opinion of something, preoccupy the mind or heart of".

Derived words

prepossessingly prepossessingness unprepossessing
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on P Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary