Preoccupate

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To influence, to occupy (the mind) in advance; to be preoccupied with. obsolete

    "the mad and fond curiositie of our nature, ammusing it selfe to preoccupate future things, as if it had not enough to doe to digest the present."

  2. 2
    To meet in advance; to forestall, pre-empt. obsolete

Example

More examples

"the mad and fond curiositie of our nature, ammusing it selfe to preoccupate future things, as if it had not enough to doe to digest the present."

Etymology

Borrowed from past participle stem of Latin praeoccupare, from prae- (“pre-”) + occupare (“occupy”); equivalent to pre- + occupate. Doublet of preoccupy.

Related phrases

pre empt

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.