preoccupation
Americannoun
-
the state of being preoccupied, esp mentally
-
something that holds the attention or preoccupies the mind
Other Word Forms
- overpreoccupation noun
- self-preoccupation noun
Etymology
Origin of preoccupation
1530–40; < Latin praeoccupātiōn- (stem of praeoccupātiō ) a taking possession beforehand. See pre-, occupation
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Horror has long been a preoccupation for Boston.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2026
Obtaining dollars to buy raw materials like oil, flour or rice to then refine and process became Kazin’s chief preoccupation.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 8, 2026
Those commanders described Smith’s preoccupation with the daily crime report, which provides the public a daily tally of nine felony offenses.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025
This shift suggested that tirzepatide's effect on her loss of control eating was temporary and that the underlying patterns of food preoccupation had resurfaced.
From Science Daily • Dec. 8, 2025
The key value that took the place of credulous piety was politeness, which was the great preoccupation of writers in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
