From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpossessedpos‧sessed /pəˈzest/ adjective 1 ROif someone is possessed, their mind is controlled by something evil She was convinced he was possessed by the devil.like a man/woman possessed literary (=with a lot of energy or violence)2 → be possessed of something → self-possessed
Examples from the Corpus
possessed• Her family thought that she was possessed, and called in a priest.like a man/woman possessed• Young played the game like a man possessed.• Sobbing and screaming, she thrashed about like a woman possessed.• Chamden performed like men possessed and even had the audacity to mount wave after wave of attacks. 