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Preoccupy

//pɹɪˈɒkjupaɪ// verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To distract; to draw attention elsewhere. transitive

    "The father tried to preoccupy the child with his keys."

  2. 2
    engage or engross the interest or attention of beforehand or occupy urgently or obsessively wordnet
  3. 3
    To worry or concern (someone) so as to distract them. transitive

    "It always preoccupies me when he acts like this."

  4. 4
    occupy or take possession of beforehand or before another or appropriate for use in advance wordnet
  5. 5
    To occupy or take possession of beforehand. obsolete, transitive

    "Terrified at this uproar, […] she ran for shelter into the place which was pre-occupied by the other lady […]."

Etymology

From pre- + occupy, after Middle French preoccuper, and its source, Latin praeoccupo, praeoccupare. Doublet of preoccupate, now obsolete.

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