Difference between Own and Possess

What is the difference between Own and Possess?

Own as a verb is to have rightful possession of (property, goods or capital); "to possess by right; to have the right of property in; to have the legal right or rightful title to." (ref 1) while Possess as a verb is to have; to have ownership of.

Own

Part of speech: verb

Definition: To have rightful possession of (property, goods or capital); "To possess by right; to have the right of property in; to have the legal right or rightful title to." (Ref 1) To claim as one's own; to answer to. To defeat or embarrass; to overwhelm. To virtually or figuratively enslave. To illicitly obtain "super-user" or "root" access into a computer system thereby having access to all of the user files on that system; pwn. To admit to be true; concede, grant, allow, acknowledge, confess; not to deny; to admit to be true. (Ref 2) To acknowledge or admit the possession or ownership of. (Ref 3) To recognise, to acknowledge responsibility for, to admit to be true.

Part of speech: adjective

Definition: Belonging to; possessed; proper to; peculiar, domestic; not foreign;

Example sentence: Let us live for the beauty of our own reality.

Possess

Part of speech: verb

Definition: To have; to have ownership of.To take control of someone's body or mind, especially in a supernatural manner.

Example sentence: All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.

We hope you now know whether to use Own or Possess in your sentence.

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