to preoccupy
1
7.1
- verb
- /priˈɑkjəˌpaɪ/
- Formal
:
ocupar
- Salt and his troops, preoccupied with plundering the region, had no warning of the British advance and were soon in headlong retreat back through the mountains into Spain.
Examples
-
Poets no longer preoccupy soldiers, nor soldiers poets.
Academic text (2002) -
On the other hand, there will be times when you have to preoccupy the kids with something other than Mom or Dad's attention.
Academic text (2009) -
So Garvey turned to science to preoccupy herself.
Blog text (2) -
Issues of dependency and dysfunction, not opportunity, now preoccupy us.
Academic text (1991) -
The house preoccupied her; each time she entered a room, she found something there to attend to, arrange, or rearrange.
Fiction book (1990) -
In such societies, as Hegel argued, private affairs preoccupy the citizens in peacetime; the public and its call to nobility only in times of war.
Academic text (1991) -
Thomas Brown had few trade goods to distribute from St. Augustine, and Tonyn was preoccupied with accommodating the thousands of British refugees from across the colonies that were flooding into his province.
Academic text (2014) -
The need for security will preoccupy local authorities as they prepare for the event.
-
To secure a prime location for the festival, the organizers will preoccupy that space weeks in advance.
-
As the deadline approached, thoughts of the project began to preoccupy her mind day and night.
Synonyms
2
7.6
Get something before others, often by paying or claiming a right
How Preemptive
- Formal
156
4.6
- Formal
1
7.1
- US
26
6.8
- Specialized
62
5.3
145
3.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Preoccupy is made of pre- 'before' and occupy 'to take or hold a place'. So to preoccupy a place or thing is to take it 'before' someone else and hold it for use.