Definition

1. Verb:
   • To dominate or engross the mind or attention of someone completely, often to the exclusion of other thoughts: To be the primary subject of someone's mental focus, causing them to think about it constantly or anxiously.
   • To occupy or take possession of something before others: To seize or settle in a place ahead of others (a less common, often historical or formal usage).

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • Financial worries preoccupy many people in today's economy.
  • The safety of her children preoccupied her throughout the storm.
  • The idea of failure preoccupies him so much that he cannot sleep.
  • (Historical/Formal) The general ordered his troops to preoccupy the strategic mountain pass.

Advanced Usage

• To be preoccupied with/by something: This is the most common construction, describing a state of being absorbed in thought about a specific subject.
  • She was so preoccupied with the upcoming exam that she didn't hear the doorbell.
  • His mind is preoccupied by thoughts of what might have been.

Variants and Related Words

• Preoccupied (adj): Describing someone whose mind is completely filled with a particular thought or worry.
  • He had a preoccupied look on his face.
• Preoccupation (n): The state of being preoccupied, or the subject that preoccupies someone.
  • Her main preoccupation is finding a new job.

Synonyms

• Engross: To absorb all the attention or interest of.
• Absorb: To engage someone's interest or attention fully.
• Obsess: To preoccupy or fill the mind continually and distressingly.

Related Phrases

• Preoccupy someone's thoughts/mind: To be the main thing someone is thinking about.
  • The mysterious letter preoccupied his thoughts for days.

Verb

1. occupy or take possession of beforehand or before another or appropriate for use in advance
   • the army preoccupied the hills
2. engage or engross the interest or attention of beforehand or occupy urgently or obsessively
   • His work preoccupies him
   • The matter preoccupies her completely--she cannot think of anything else