Preoccupation

//ˌpɹiɑkjʊˈpeɪʃən// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of being preoccupied or an idea that preoccupies the mind; enthrallment. countable, uncountable

    "The same preoccupation with developing a conceptual framework is evident in David Blank's Venezuela: Politics in a Petroleum Republic, a modified version of Blank's early theses."

  2. 2
    the act of taking occupancy before someone else does wordnet
  3. 3
    The act of occupying something before someone else. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    the mental state of being preoccupied by something wordnet
  5. 5
    an idea that preoccupies the mind and holds the attention wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
preoccupancyfixationpreoccupancyabsence of mindabsentmindednessabsorbed attention

Example

More examples

"It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French préoccupation, from Latin praeoccupātiō. By surface analysis, pre- + occupation or preoccupy + -ation.

Related phrases

self-preoccupation

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