to preoccupy

Examples

• All

• Nations are increasingly preoccupied with their relative economic standing, not the living standards of citizens.

  Academic text (2008)

• If people are going to be preoccupied with other concerns, I want to know in advance.

  Fiction book (1992)

• So like this, yeah, you start to preoccupy yourself with something.

  Mulligan Brothers Interviews

• That is a kind of problem that does preoccupy us on our side of the river.

• So there are two things that I think will preoccupy you in the next two days.

• OK, we'll put Let me ask a question that seems to preoccupy the American mind from the perspective of Russia.

  Lex Fridman

• In these nations, the oil industry is preoccupied with the costs of staying in business.

  Academic text (1993)

• I think the main thing that's preoccupying me at the moment is what we should be doing.

• The question of happiness has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and pharmaceutical companies for thousands of years.

  The Oranges (2011)

• She was so preoccupied with her upcoming exam that she forgot to eat lunch.

Synonyms

F

to focus on

vsto preoccupy

∞ 2.0

Give most attention and effort to one person or task

is usually involuntary domination of the mind rather than chosen effort

C

to concentrate

vsto preoccupy

561 3.4

To give all your attention to one thing

is more about occupying the mind involuntarily instead of voluntary task focus

O

to obsess

vsto preoccupy

304 5.5

To think about something so much that it makes you worried

is more about urgent focused attention rather than uncontrollable thinking

C

to concentrate on

vsto preoccupy

279 3.1

Give your full attention to one activity or subject

is mental domination excluding other thoughts rather than deliberate task focus

F

to fixate

vsto preoccupy

46 7.0

To think about someone or something all the time

is more about urgent mental absorption than narrow emotional focus

O

to obsess about

vsto preoccupy

26 6.0

Think too much about something so you feel unhappy

is more about urgent absorbing attention rather than long unhelpful repeating thoughts

B

to brood over

vsto preoccupy

3 6.7

Think about something in a worried way for a long time

is more about urgent absorbing attention rather than anxious long reflection

L

to live rent-free in someone's head

vsto preoccupy

• Slang

8.4

To stay constantly in someone's thoughts and annoy them

is more about urgent or active absorption rather than passive involuntary presence

Antonyms

D

to distract

513 2.1

To make someone stop paying attention to what they are doing or thinking about

How Absorbing

to obsess

304 5.5

to preoccupy

70 6.3

to engross

17 5.8

to absorb

112 3.1

to occupy

99 3.5

to distract

513 2.1

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology