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preoccupied
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  • Even in this sullen setting, Patti Love, dressed in the finest black silks, seemed preoccupied with her own appearance and importance.†   (source)
  • A preoccupation was at the forefront of Rosa Hubermann's expression, and it was not long until she picked up a knife and left the room.†   (source)
  • "I know a little, but only a few stitches," said Esperanza, remembering Abuelita's blanket of zigzag rows that she had been too preoccupied to unpack.†   (source)
  • I've been preoccupied with watching the boy from District 2 send a spear through a dummy's heart from fifteen yards.†   (source)
  • The rest of Pakistan was preoccupied with something else—the Taliban had moved right into the heart of our nation's capital, Islamabad.†   (source)
  • For a few weeks, I preoccupied myself with gravity and momentum, atoms and cells, the Anglo-Afghan wars, instead of thinking about Hassan and what had happened to him.†   (source)
  • Several exhaustive psychological studies were done on Halliday following his death, and his obsessive adherence to routine and preoccupation with a few obscure areas of interest led many psychologists to conclude that Halliday had suffered from Asperger's syndrome, or from some other form of high-functioning autism.†   (source)
  • As Harry squelched along the deserted corridor he came across somebody who looked just as preoccupied as he was.†   (source)
  • Roman's observation underscores how difficult it is for those of us preoccupied with the humdrum concerns of adulthood to recall how forcefully we were once buffeted by the passions and longings of youth.†   (source)
  • Louie wanted to reassure Phil that he'd done nothing wrong, but he decided that raising the issue would deepen Phil's preoccupation.†   (source)
  • We had to go past the nurses' desk to get to the door, but the girl in white seemed preoccupied, sitting with her head down, writing something.†   (source)
  • The policeman was grimly preoccupied with another concern.†   (source)
  • At least his mother had been preoccupied; by the time he shut the milk house door, she had disappeared into the house.†   (source)
  • The minds of Americans, he says, are universally preoccupied with meeting the body's every need and attending to life's little comforts.†   (source)
  • "Why did you enlist, son?" he asked, voicing the question that had been preoccupying him since they first met.†   (source)
  • The thought of what comes next has me preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Scientists are a friendly, atheistic, hard-working, beer-drinking lot whose minds are preoccupied with sex, chess and baseball when they are not preoccupied with science.†   (source)
  • Forbidding sex between white women and black men became an intense preoccupation throughout the South.†   (source)
  • Will seemed preoccupied for the rest of the afternoon.†   (source)
  • Still Fache seemed preoccupied.†   (source)
  • After class Darla tried to act all cool and preoccupied, but she had her radar up and pointed our way.†   (source)
  • Thomas knew the rebuke should've stung, but his mind was too preoccupied.†   (source)
  • But the train jolts into motion, and the man finishes his cigarette and gives her a preoccupied smile and promptly falls asleep.†   (source)
  • SILAS HAD BEEN PREOCCUPIED for the previous several months.†   (source)
  • Emma did not find fault with the cook's somewhat childlike preoccupation with her basket, though the basket didn't have anything to do with the issue of housing, either.†   (source)
  • The snowstorm, just now, preoccupied him.†   (source)
  • When I answered them, my responses hung between us— before I finished speaking, Jess was already preoccupied with his own thoughts again.†   (source)
  • I'm sure that Owen was too preoccupied with his own death to have anything to say about Bobby Kennedy's.†   (source)
  • From the moment of Monty's arrival until bedtime, Stephano kept the children under his constant surveillance, a phrase which here means "kept watching them so they couldn't possibly talk to Uncle Monty alone and reveal that he was really Count Olaf," and Uncle Monty was too preoccupied to think that anything unusual was going on.†   (source)
  • And his father ...his father would always be preoccupied with conquest—and wouldn't stop until every continent bore Adarlan's flag.†   (source)
  • I'm a little preoccupied watching the sweat drip down his chest.†   (source)
  • He used this preoccupied tone when he was thinking of something more interesting than what you had said.†   (source)
  • I've been so preoccupied with the trials that I almost don't notice when it's my turn to serve again.†   (source)
  • Kate was too preoccupied to notice.†   (source)
  • He is preoccupied, like a man humming to himself in the shower without knowing he's humming; like a man who has other things on his mind.†   (source)
  • I had been without it since then, and too preoccupied to notice.†   (source)
  • She's preoccupied with the patrol right now But I'm warning you.†   (source)
  • That the word had been written by a man confessing to an image in his mind, confiding a lonely preoccupation, disgusted her profoundly.†   (source)
  • She knew that her mother was absentminded and preoccupied, but this was ridiculous.†   (source)
  • The butterflies still danced, preoccupied in the center of the clearing.†   (source)
  • She picked a flat-head screwdriver from the toolbox and started twirling it over her fingers, anything to keep her hands preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Kuttappen mortified, the twins preoccupied with boat thoughts.†   (source)
  • The right-hand head seemed to be thoroughly preoccupied with this task, but the left-hand one was grinning a broad, relaxed, nonchalant grin.†   (source)
  • He seemed preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Preoccupied by the thought of going into hiding, I stuck the craziest things in the bag, but I'm not sorry.†   (source)
  • Phase One: preoccupation; difficulty focusing; dry mouth; perspiration, sweaty palms; dizziness and disorientation.†   (source)
  • We'd become preoccupied with T-shirts, with decorating around our beds, with personalising our desks.†   (source)
  • Eragon and Brom had their nightly fight, but it lacked energy, as both were preoccupied with the day's events.†   (source)
  • Why so preoccupied?†   (source)
  • Walt gave her a grudging smile, but he still looked preoccupied, like something was bothering him.†   (source)
  • Dustfinger pretended to be preoccupied with pulling a loose thread from his coat sleeve.†   (source)
  • So, then we've been seduced into this preoccupation with authority?†   (source)
  • "It was on Monday," said Sol, preoccupied with something he was reading.†   (source)
  • What little part of my mind wasn't leaden with fatigue was preoccupied with the screaming pain across my back.†   (source)
  • I'd been so preoccupied, I hadn't noticed it earlier; it was folded in two and fastened to his shoulder by a long silver pin.†   (source)
  • Most of all she couldn't bear having her head so preoccupied and nothing useful to do with her hands.†   (source)
  • There wasn't much that sounded like the movies I'd seen, and only a very few, like the Hebrew Estrie and the Polish Upier, who were even preoccupied with drinking blood.†   (source)
  • Even his mother, preoccupied with last-minute wedding details, had forgotten to call him first thing in the morning, as she normally did.†   (source)
  • Fortunately the doctors got the mole off in time, but the question of her own mortality is one she seems to be preoccupied with of late, probably because she knows death is the one condition in life she can't outrun.†   (source)
  • She knew I was preoccupied, heading to the Internet to research possible medical treatments.†   (source)
  • The longer I'm with him, the more I hear a preoccupation with race, ethnicity and sexual preference.†   (source)
  • Silence in the cramped compartment, the very young lieutenant still preoccupied with her discomfiture.†   (source)
  • Tante Jans's preoccupation with death might have been funny, but it wasn't.†   (source)
  • Even so, as much as I loved my new daughter, part of me was preoccupied with the Team.†   (source)
  • The hope-chest program didn't last long as our main preoccupation.†   (source)
  • His face was preoccupied, his eyes distant.†   (source)
  • But his boss seemed preoccupied and didn't notice.†   (source)
  • But as they became preoccupied with exchanging autographs, a few of them let up on chasing and taunting us.†   (source)
  • Perhaps that was why her mother said, "You are rather preoccupied these days, Sphie."†   (source)
  • A wilderness of mortals surrounded us, groping, blind, preoccupied, and the brides and bridegrooms of death.†   (source)
  • The captain seemed very preoccupied.†   (source)
  • She'd been so preoccupied catching every airing of the Lamont Whipper Show-which was on daily at eleven, three, and ten at night on various channels-she hadn't even noticed anything different about me this last week.†   (source)
  • The boys decide to get all "mature" on Y.T. Males of this age are preoccupied with snapping each other's underwear and drinking until they are in a coma.†   (source)
  • But her good intentions clashed with her need to talk with her uncle about the things that preoccupied her.†   (source)
  • She had discovered Clarkston the way most Atlantans did—by accident—and like most of the people who drove through Clarkston, Luma was too preoccupied with her own worries to give much thought to the unusual tableau around her.†   (source)
  • The old understanding of handling crime epidemics leads inevitably to a preoccupation with defensive measures against crime.†   (source)
  • She never knew when the diversion became a preoccupation and her blood frothed with the need to see him, and one night she awoke in terror because she saw him looking at her from the darkness at the foot of her bed.†   (source)
  • But don't forget that he was preoccupied playing the role of the big industrialist.†   (source)
  • Of course, the dreams that I had during my illness continued to preoccupy me.†   (source)
  • "You guys are funny," Olly says, almost smiling, but obviously preoccupied.†   (source)
  • We report to the Officer, who looks a bit preoccupied with the visitors waiting for us.†   (source)
  • The unconscious preoccupation with water here weighed on her mind.†   (source)
  • I was a little preoccupied...†   (source)
  • I was preoccupied debating whether or not I really wanted to meet Elliot tonight.†   (source)
  • Most people in Coalwood were preoccupied with other matters more down to this earth.†   (source)
  • We told each other everything, within the limits of one's preoccupation with breeding and tact.†   (source)
  • He would cut school to be with them and his parents were too preoccupied either to notice or care.†   (source)
  • "Just the same," said Richard, in a preoccupied tone, "nobody can work all the time."†   (source)
  • So I will admit to being preoccupied with visions of Erik as Tristan and me as Isolde (only our passionate love story would have a happy ending), and didn't notice that there were other people in the courtyard until a raised male voice shocked me with how mean and disgusted it sounded.†   (source)
  • They'd been too preoccupied with the mother.†   (source)
  • The SS seemed more preoccupied, more worried, than usual.†   (source)
  • This was in the castle courtyard, and when the Prince appeared, the Count was, as usual, with him, although, not as usual, the Count seemed preoccupied.†   (source)
  • She had been aware of his preoccupations, whereas he had had no inkling of her intentions.†   (source)
  • Preoccupied with that revelation, she trips on the sidewalk crack.†   (source)
  • "These are beauties," he exclaimed with due enthusiasm, yet with a certain uneasy preoccupation in his manner.†   (source)
  • Now Miro was able to study her buttocks without hurry, for she seemed preoccupied with whatever view lay beyond the window.†   (source)
  • She could sense the stillness in the room, everyone watching her: Magnus with his ancient, tempered curiosity; Alec too preoccupied with his own problems to care much for hers; Luke hopefully; and Jace with a cold, frightening blankness.†   (source)
  • I'm so preoccupied that I'm almost at the table before I look up.†   (source)
  • THROUGH DAYS OF TOIL ON DEFENSES, through endless hours taken up with military routine, endless problems of supply and paperwork, and the innumerable day-to-day preoccupations of those trying to carry on with the little that remained of normal civilian life, the thought that the British could appear any time was seldom out of mind.†   (source)
  • The Warden must have been preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Wearing a menacing and preoccupied scowl, General Dreedle moved to the full-length mirror in his office and stared at his stocky reflection.†   (source)
  • I was so preoccupied and hyper during lunch that El and Dorie and Red were trying to hold me down in my chair in the cafeteria.†   (source)
  • A preoccupied child who took his bowl with one hand got a sideways glare.†   (source)
  • That, in a nutshell, was the end of my preoccupation with death.†   (source)
  • Glancing around the small, sparse bedroom to see if I had forgotten anything, I noticed him sitting on the bed, still preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Mrs. Gurgle's expression was blank and slightly preoccupied, as if she was trying to do a mildly complicated sum in her head, and the room seemed to darken.†   (source)
  • He's fishing but Mademoiselle LeFarge can't see that he's interested in more than her preoccupation with the occult.†   (source)
  • On this particular day, Rosemarie was preoccupied with my headgear.†   (source)
  • Once, in her job as a legal secretary, at a big closing, she had ridden in a fabulous stretch; but she had been jammed in the backseat with four preoccupied lawyers.†   (source)
  • He seemed preoccupied and did not look at Jake.†   (source)
  • They pointed an array of fearsome-looking guns at the preoccupied spirit, whose flames audibly hissed and popped in the background.†   (source)
  • J. Edgar Hoover believes this preoccupation is folly and that Reverend King's comments will one day be forgotten.†   (source)
  • I've been too preoccupied with dealing with my mother and taking care of Paige to pay much attention to my looks.†   (source)
  • He seemed quite to have lost the preoccupied air that had troubled Hazel the night before.†   (source)
  • You'll find a preoccupation with the Gathering.†   (source)
  • Japanese militarists reasoned that the U.S. and the U.K. would be preoccupied by the German thrust and would not dare to allocate large military resources to Asia.†   (source)
  • I'm sorry I couldn't be with you last night, but...well...I was sort of preoccupied.†   (source)
  • When he'd come to climb K2, he'd been too preoccupied by his goal to pay much attention to his bus trip up the Indus.†   (source)
  • Bemused'is another one, People seem to think it means amused, rather than bewildered or preoccupied.†   (source)
  • He didn't ask what decisions kept her preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Even those who were willing to admit Hutchins' preoccupation with Quality were unwilling to grant the final authority to the Aristotelian tradition to define values.†   (source)
  • I'm preoccupied and inconsiderate.†   (source)
  • The iron-men have taken the Shields and are raiding up the Mander, deep into the heart of the Reach, which means Highgarden will be preoccupied as well.†   (source)
  • I was preoccupied with my wife's health until I was visited on March 31 by Winnie's attorney and my friend Dullah Omar.†   (source)
  • From the way she looked absently around the room it was obvious she was preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Cesar was too preoccupied with watching Angel warm up to notice.†   (source)
  • Alessandro's struggles and preoccupations centered on hope and will.†   (source)
  • He seemed preoccupied with a problem of his own.†   (source)
  • Fredi didn't want the kids preoccupied when they presented themselves to the experts.†   (source)
  • Eight months ago, upon moving into the apartment, in reaction to a morbid and obsessive preoccupation with family albums and loose snapshots, Joe had packed all the photos in a large cardboard box, reasoning that rubbing a wound retarded healing.†   (source)
  • I don't know what's so mesmerizing about it but I'm not arguing, because while she's preoccupied with studying the room, I can study her.†   (source)
  • For the Master of the Universe promises strength to those who preoccupy themselves in Tor ah, as it is written, 'So ye may be strong,' and He promises length of days, as it is written.†   (source)
  • It was a game the Portuguese had taught the Sinhalese in the 15th century to keep them quiet and preoccupied while they invaded the country.†   (source)
  • You seem preoccupied by this soirée.†   (source)
  • Preoccupied with his moral instruction, he probably failed to attend important religious festivals.†   (source)
  • Days passed, and weeks, and months, and Hisham went on working in the department with his old application but with only half his mind, the other half being preoccupied with the urgent and critical question, what could he do to please Dr. Bassiouni?†   (source)
  • May be preoccupied.†   (source)
  • I knew Mo was preoccupied when she didn't even ask Misty what that meant, splashing the woman.†   (source)
  • Americans are too preoccupied with their cell phones and computers, so they don't take the time to sit down with their spouses, children, grandchildren, aunts and uncles, and grandparents to eat a meal together.†   (source)
  • Which has been my other preoccupation.†   (source)
  • "You'll have your due turn," I said, annoyed that he was still preoccupied with the issue.†   (source)
  • It would be a mistake, however, to assume that Confederate soldiers were constantly preoccupied with this matter.†   (source)
  • So I had to be content without him; but contentment cannot be forced, and Nathan noticed my preoccupation.†   (source)
  • We were preoccupied with Iran at the time.†   (source)
  • While Jack and his slender wife asked me a lot of questions, I answered, preoccupied with thoughts about where Cooper and I would spend Christmas Day.†   (source)
  • I had a thought that I should rush him now, while he was preoccupied with the casual study of the alien terrain where his spirit had broken up into irreversibly fragmented parts.†   (source)
  • This sounds as though I bemoan an older time, which is the preoccupation of the old, or cultivate an opposition to change, which is the currency of the rich and stupid.†   (source)
  • I had little time to spare for Mike, but I did notice that he seemed deeply preoccupied.†   (source)
  • My greatest preoccupation was that moment of transition when I would "pass over."†   (source)
  • He smelled the smells of commerce and listened to the cursing of the sailors, both of which he admired: the former, as it reeked of wealth, and the latter because it combined his two other chief preoccupations, these being theology and anatomy.†   (source)
  • I could not really have cared less one way or another, but I was still surprised, and there was something vaguely negative and self-preoccupied in my reaction.†   (source)
  • He went on as before, but he looked preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Metty, too, was like a man with preoccupations.†   (source)
  • Jeffrey Greggson was one islander who, as yet, had no interest in esthetics or science, the two main preoccupations of his elders.†   (source)
  • The Chinese never liked Russia's preoccupation with the Med," Hazzard said.†   (source)
  • Twenty-four hours ago he'd have explained to Peter what he was looking for; but he was too preoccupied now.†   (source)
  • His interest in the physiology of sight was in keeping with other sides of his character-his creative gifts and his preoccupation with imagery in art and the logical structure of ideas.†   (source)
  • It is simply a part of the familiar atmosphere of the room, a background which does not touch her preoccupation; and she speaks aloud to herself not to them.†   (source)
  • It might seem that the extreme fertility of her garden formed at once a preoccupation and a challenge to Mrs. Larkin.†   (source)
  • The other hunter seemed much preoccupied with the kill ....and that tree hung over the place where the butchering was going onA few minutes later Rod was again on a branch, without a knife but with a long thorn held in his teeth.†   (source)
  • Dick came back half an hour later, glad to see her, but preoccupied.†   (source)
  • I didn't answer, and she said, "You always hum that tune when you're preoccupied."†   (source)
  • But she was now preoccupied with her cabinet.†   (source)
  • I'd been so preoccupied, I didn't realize until this moment that neither of my stories was true.†   (source)
  • Normally Auntie wouldn't have permitted me to work there while a guest was in the reception room, but she was as preoccupied with eavesdropping as I was.†   (source)
  • Actually, preoccupied though I was with Ruth's possible, I did begin to enjoy the paintings and the sheer peacefulness of the place.†   (source)
  • And even for Jen Shinnan, even though just now she's preoccupied with her own resentment at no longer being the highest authority in Ors.†   (source)
  • The others were nodding to back me up, though Ruth herself had on a vague expression, like she'd suddenly become preoccupied with something else entirely.†   (source)
  • And I had been surprised when the tank blew, and preoccupied with shooting Anaander Mianaais, and might not have exhaled as I should have.†   (source)
  • That class had finished several minutes early—Miss Emily had rushed off with a preoccupied frown—and the word had started to go round as soon as the students had come out.†   (source)
  • He hasn't, yet, possibly because he is currently preoccupied with other matters, and for reasons that ought to be clear to you, he is likely hesitant to delegate in this affair.†   (source)
  • I guess I should be upset he's drinking again, but I'm preoccupied with another feeling.†   (source)
  • "You are preoccupied, my dear," she said mournfully to Harry.†   (source)
  • Both Marcus and Johanna are too preoccupied to notice the movement.†   (source)
  • "Private — with you?" said Harry, surprised out of his preoccupied silence.†   (source)
  • I was momentarily preoccupied by the way my body moved.†   (source)
  • Hadn't Shinny seemed strangely distant, strangely preoccupied?†   (source)
  • Most of the crowd was still preoccupied watching Elizabeth.†   (source)
  • Eragon was so preoccupied with his thoughts, he paid little attention to his work.†   (source)
  • His expression was perturbed and preoccupied.†   (source)
  • And I could have done it myself when I was ....well ....when I was preoccupied.†   (source)
  • And the minute I was sure she was good and preoccupied, I tugged on her sleeve and asked, "Now?"†   (source)
  • Thanks," I muttered, preoccupied by the expression on Edward's face.†   (source)
  • Isn't it awful of me to be so preoccupied with myself?†   (source)
  • And not unnaturally, she was preoccupied with herself.†   (source)
  • The following week, if Will noticed that I was preoccupied, he didn't say anything.†   (source)
  • But he was more preoccupied with sword fighting than motorcycle riding.†   (source)
  • Everyone except Rina-who was pretending to be preoccupied with tying her shoe-was watching me.†   (source)
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