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Possess vs Belongs - What's the difference?

possess | belongs |

As verbs the difference between possess and belongs

is that possess is to have; to have ownership of while belongs is third-person singular of belong.

possess

English

Verb

(es)
  • To have; to have ownership of.
  • * 1818 , (Mary Shelley), (Frankenstein) , Volume 3, Chapter 7:
    • [...], the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds, which hardly any later friend can obtain.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
    • , chapter=1 citation , passage=He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.}}
  • To take control of someone's body or mind, especially in a supernatural manner.
  • To vest ownership in (someone); to give someone power or knowledge; to acquaint; to inform.
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,
    • LEONATO. I cannot bid you bid my daughter live;
    That were impossible; but, I pray you both,
    Possess the people in Messina here
    How innocent she died;
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Twelfth Night) , II, 3
    • [Sir Toby Belch] Possess' us, '''possess' us ; tell us something of him.

    Quotations

    *

    Synonyms

    * seise * (qualities or characteristics) inhold

    belongs

    English

    Verb

    (head)
  • (belong)

    • belong

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) belongen, from .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To have its proper place.
  • # (label) To be accepted in a group.
  • # To be a part of a group.
  • To be part of, or the property of.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
    • , chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff. These properties were known to have belonged to a toddy drawer. He had disappeared.}}
  • To be the spouse or partner of. (rfex)
  • (followed by'' to''') To be an element of (a set). The symbol \in means '''''belongs to .
  • To be deserved by.
  • * (rfdate) (Ben Jonson)
    • More evils belong us than happen to us.
    Derived terms
    * belonging * belongingness

    External links

    *

    Etymology 2

    Compare Kriol blanga'', Bislama ''blong'', Tok Pisin ''bilong'', and Torres Strait Creole ''blong .

    Alternative forms

    * blung * , belonga, blonga

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Of, belonging to.
  • * 1915, E. R. Masson, Untamed Territory
    • Jim Campbell, Charlie, Dick, ... Fred, lubra b’longa him, me, thass all.
  • * 1936, M. & E. Durack, Chunuma
    • By an’ bye ’im grow ’m up make ’m good fella stockman b’longta you.
  • * 1977, N. Kolig, Playing Alonga Mud
    • Those who had persevered with the course and had acquired some skill were now almost deferentially called ‘Maban (expert) belonga clay’.
  • * 1986, Kowanyama News, Dec.
    • Them two bin help’m too, and that father blung to this one old Frank.
  • * 1986, B. Shaw, Countrymen
    • There’s the bloke that’s kill that feller, uncle belong you an me.
  • * 1991, D. B. Rose, Hidden Histories
    • Get that fire [wood] stacked up like that tree there, that high ... It wasn’t wood belong to that fire pile. Might be for station, or somebody else, you know.