pre·oc·cu·pa·tion

(prē-ŏk′yə-pā′shən)

1. The state of being preoccupied; absorption of the attention or intellect.

2. Something that preoccupies or engrosses the mind: Money was their chief preoccupation.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

preoccupation

(priːˌɒkjʊˈpeɪʃən) or

preoccupancy

1. the state of being preoccupied, esp mentally

2. something that holds the attention or preoccupies the mind

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pre•oc•cu•pa•tion

(priˌɒk yəˈpeɪ ʃən, ˌpri ɒk-)

n.

1. the state of being preoccupied.

2. an act of preoccupying.

[1530–40; < Latin]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	preoccupation - an idea that preoccupies the mind and holds the attention fixation, obsession - an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone hang-up - an emotional preoccupation hobbyhorse - a topic to which one constantly reverts; "don't get him started on his hobbyhorse" idea, thought - the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about; "it was not a good idea"; "the thought never entered my mind" self-absorption - preoccupation with yourself to the exclusion of everything else
	2.	preoccupation - the mental state of being preoccupied by something preoccupancy, engrossment, absorption cognitive state, state of mind - the state of a person's cognitive processes abstractedness, abstraction - preoccupation with something to the exclusion of all else absentmindedness - preoccupation so great that the ordinary demands on attention are ignored
	3.	preoccupation - the act of taking occupancy before someone else does preoccupancy moving in, occupancy, occupation - the act of occupying or taking possession of a building; "occupation of a building without a certificate of occupancy is illegal"

preoccupation

noun

1. obsession, concern, hang-up (informal), fixation, pet subject, hobbyhorse, idée fixe (French), bee in your bonnet Her main preoccupation from an early age was boys.

2. absorption, musing, oblivion, abstraction, daydreaming, immersion, reverie, absent-mindedness, brown study, inattentiveness, absence of mind, pensiveness, engrossment, prepossession, woolgathering He kept sinking back into gloomy preoccupation.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

preoccupation

noun

Total occupation of the attention or of the mind:

absorption, engrossment, enthrallment, immersion, prepossession.

Translations

إنْشِغال البال

zaujetí

optagethed

Inanspruchnahme

preocupación

absorbement préoccupation

belefeledkezés

òaî sem e-r er upptekinn af

preoccupare preoccupato preoccupazione

fordypning i egne tanker

preocupação

aklını takmatakıntı tasa

先占

preoccupation

[priːˌɒkjʊˈpeɪʃən] N → preocupación f
keeping warm was his main preoccupation → su principal preocupación or lo que más le preocupaba era no pasar frío
she was too busy with her own preoccupations to notice → estaba demasiado ensimismada en sus cosas para darse cuenta
his incessant preoccupation with his appearance → su constante obsesión or preocupación por el aspecto

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

preoccupation

[priˌɒkjʊˈpeɪʃ^ən] n → préoccupation f
let me explain my preoccupation with this → laissez-moi vous expliquer pourquoi cela me préoccupe

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

preoccupation

n his face had a look of preoccupation → seinem Gesicht sah man an, dass ihn etwas beschäftigte; her preoccupation with her appearance → ihre ständige Sorge um ihr Äußeres; her preoccupation with making money was such that … → sie war so sehr mit dem Geldverdienen beschäftigt, dass …; that was his main preoccupation → das war sein Hauptanliegen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

preoccupation

[priːˌɒkjʊˈpeɪʃ/ən] n → preoccupazione f
his preoccupation with death → la sua ossessione della morte

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

preoccupy

(priˈokjupai) verb

to engage or occupy (a person's mind etc) or the attention of (someone) completely. His mind was preoccupied with plans for his holiday.

preˌoccuˈpation noun

preoccupation

n. preocupación; absorción de la atención.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

So he allowed his mind to be occupied with her, deeming his preoccupation to be no more than a philosopher's regard of an exceedingly novel, fresh, and interesting specimen of womankind.

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As he was speaking thus, entirely occupied with his ciphers, and thinking no more of his gout, repelled by a preoccupation which, with the cardinal, was the most powerful of all preoccupations, Bernouin rushed into the chamber, quite in a fright.

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This strangely novel situation of opening his trouble to his Raveloe neighbours, of sitting in the warmth of a hearth not his own, and feeling the presence of faces and voices which were his nearest promise of help, had doubtless its influence on Marner, in spite of his passionate preoccupation with his loss.

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Note well, though, that Herrera's preoccupation throughout that day and night of superhuman strain is always for the Master's bodily health and comfort.

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Rostov looked inimically at Pierre, first because Pierre appeared to his hussar eyes as a rich civilian, the husband of a beauty, and in a word- an old woman; and secondly because Pierre in his preoccupation and absent-mindedness had not recognized Rostov and had not responded to his greeting.

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But let them conceive one more historical contrast: the gigantic broken revelations of that Imperial and Papal city thrust abruptly on the notions of a girl who had been brought up in English and Swiss Puritanism, fed on meagre Protestant histories and on art chiefly of the hand-screen sort; a girl whose ardent nature turned all her small allowance of knowledge into principles, fusing her actions into their mould, and whose quick emotions gave the most abstract things the quality of a pleasure or a pain; a girl who had lately become a wife, and from the enthusiastic acceptance of untried duty found herself plunged in tumultuous preoccupation with her personal lot.

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She took him by the end of the fingers (reaching forward to take them, for her great preoccupation was to save time), she drew him towards her, pushed him past her in the door, and planted him face to face with Mr.

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Even my preoccupation about the Time Machine receded a little from my mind.

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These symptoms of a violent moral preoccupation, had acquired an especially high degree of intensity at the epoch when this story takes place.

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Coquelin de Voliere" as one of the actors, in the piece called "Les Facheux." Full of preoccupation, however, from the scene of the previous evening, and hardly recovered from the effects of the poison which Colbert had then administered to him, the king, during the whole of the day, so brilliant in its effects, so full of unexpected and startling novelties, in which all the wonders of the "Arabian Night's Entertainments" seemed to be reproduced for his especial amusement - the king, we say, showed himself cold, reserved, and taciturn.

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My reading from the first was such as to enamour me of clearness, of definiteness; anything left in the vague was intolerable to me; but my long subjection to Pope, while it was useful in other ways, made me so strictly literary in my point of view that sometimes I could not see what was, if more naturally approached and without any technical preoccupation, perfectly transparent.

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It was more than a dislike--it resembled fear, a nervous preoccupation of what went on where he could not see.

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