taken up
35
7.3
- phrasal verb
:
absorto en
- And she is, she is left, you know, completely taken up with her past.
And it's it's causing you to have your brain be taken up with space from that topic.
- And it's it's causing you to have your brain be taken up with space from that topic.
Examples
-
- Well, maybe it's taken up... ...too much of your time, or you gave someone a promise... - ... not to play anymore.
-
The previous year, she had taken up free diving as a change from scuba.
Fiction book (1999) -
My mother always wished that I had taken up some other form of work.
-
Discussion about the colors for the Installation Ceremony had taken up much of our time the previous summer.
Fiction book (1991) -
You promised me then that you wouldn't get all taken up with them.
-
You know she's taken up tennis?
-
Major progressive nonprofits, such as the ACLU and NAACP, have also taken up the cause.
Academic text (2017) -
She is totally taken up with her work, often staying late to finish projects.
-
He became taken up with gardening, spending every weekend planting new flowers.
-
After discovering a new hobby, she found herself taken up with painting every evening.
Synonyms
245
4.8
Very strongly interested in someone or something and thinking about them all the time
62
4.8
Very interested and completely involved in something
32
4.5
Thinking so much about something that you do not notice what is happening around you
So strong that it takes all your attention and energy
Thinking about something all the time and not paying attention
Giving all your attention to something and not noticing other things
Antonyms
How Absorbed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjectival sense 'taken up (with)' is related to the phrasal verb take up meaning 'to occupy or engage', so a learner who knows 'take/taken' and 'up' could plausibly infer a sense of being occupied or absorbed. However, the specific idiomatic use 'taken up with' = 'preoccupied/obsessed with' depends on particle usage and passive/adjectival construction that is not fully predictable from the parts, so some exposure is normally needed.
Etymology
Taken up comes from the simple image of something being taken and held up in your hands, so your hands are full. That's why being taken up with something means being 'too focused' on it and not noticing other things.