The definition of a hoarder is someone who collects things in their home obsessively, including things that would commonly be thrown away: bags, old food, or broken items.
Facts About Hoarding
- Hoarding is a mental illness characterized by the compulsive need to purchase or acquire items from various sources and to keep them even when they are no longer useful.
- The cause of hoarding is unknown.
- Hoarding and the resulting clutter often interferes with everyday life and activities.
- Animal hoarding can begin innocently with a hoarder wanting to help or rescue stray dogs or cats, and turns into a situation where large numbers of animals are living with inadequate care in unsanitary conditions.
- Hoarding can stem from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), OCPD (obsessive compulsive personality disorder), ICD (impulse control disorder) and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
- Hoarding disease is a serious medical condition.
(noun)An example of a hoarder is someone who has difficulty walking through their house because of excessive piles and boxes of things in the way.