preoccupation

UK/ˌpɹiɒkjʊˈpeɪʃən/US/ˌpɹiɑkjʊˈpeɪʃən/

nounC2Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,484 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: preoccupations

A preoccupation is a matter that fills the mind to the exclusion of others. A national preoccupation, his chief preoccupation, a growing preoccupation.

It is milder than an obsession and less deliberate than an interest: a preoccupation is what the mind returns to when it is left alone. The word also names the state itself, as in a look of preoccupation.

Definitions of preoccupation

1nounpreoccupationA matter that fills the mind to the exclusion of others.C2
“His preoccupation with money left him no time for his family.”

preoccupation is a concern.

Where it comes from

Latin praeoccupatio means a seizing beforehand, from prae, before, plus occupare, to seize.

Proto-Indo-European
*keh₂p-
Latin
praeoccupātiō
Middle French
préoccupation
English, today
preoccupation

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

preoccupation in the wild

Fearing the stigma of vanity, they usually hide this preoccupation.
Body dysmorphic disorder
Starting in the late 1930s, Villaurrutia's work reflects his preoccupation with death.
Xavier Villaurrutia
There is also a social preoccupation, with interacting characters drawn from many strata of society.
To Fear a Painted Devil
Due to distraction and preoccupation during the landing sequence approximately 100 gear-up landing incidents occurred each year in the United States between 1998 and 2003.
GUMPS
The early business of the council has been described as an "almost entire preoccupation with clearing land".
District Council of Neales

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

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