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preoccupied
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  • 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)
  • The rest of Pakistan was preoccupied with something else—the Taliban had moved right into the heart of our nation's capital, Islamabad.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • I've been preoccupied with watching the boy from District 2 send a spear through a dummy's heart from fifteen yards.†   (source)
  • The policeman was grimly preoccupied with another concern. ... Until that moment, Officer David Delinko had been so busy worrying about solving the Mother Paula's case and saving his own career that he hadn't thought much about anything else.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • He was preoccupied, always running somewhere breathlessly, coming home flushed with burrs all over his tunic.†   (source)
  • "Why did you enlist, son?" he asked, voicing the question that had been preoccupying him since they first met.†   (source)
  • Thomas knew the rebuke should've stung, but his mind was too preoccupied.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • Still Fache seemed preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Forbidding sex between white women and black men became an intense preoccupation throughout the South.†   (source)
  • SILAS HAD BEEN PREOCCUPIED for the previous several months.†   (source)
  • The thought of what comes next has me preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Will seemed preoccupied for the rest of the afternoon.†   (source)
  • Kate was too preoccupied to notice.†   (source)
  • And the minute I was sure she was good and preoccupied, I tugged on her sleeve and asked, "Now?"†   (source)
  • Spiritual matters were not Savannah's only preoccupation, however.†   (source)
  • Scientists are actually preoccupied with accomplishment.†   (source)
  • I must have sounded preoccupied.†   (source)
  • And his father …. his father would always be preoccupied with conquest—and wouldn't stop until every continent bore Adarlan's flag.†   (source)
  • She's preoccupied with the patrol right now But I'm warning you.†   (source)
  • I'm sure that Owen was too preoccupied with his own death to have anything to say about Bobby Kennedy's.†   (source)
  • But the train jolts into motion, and the man finishes his cigarette and gives her a preoccupied smile and promptly falls asleep.†   (source)
  • He used this preoccupied tone when he was thinking of something more interesting than what you had said.†   (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)
  • I've been so preoccupied with the trials that I almost don't notice when it's my turn to serve again.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • Even his mother, preoccupied with last-minute wedding details, had forgotten to call him first thing in the morning, as she normally did.†   (source)
  • She picked a flat-head screwdriver from the toolbox and started twirling it over her fingers, anything to keep her hands preoccupied.†   (source)
  • The butterflies still danced, preoccupied in the center of the clearing.†   (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)
  • Preoccupied by the thought of going into hiding, I stuck the craziest things in the bag, but I'm not sorry.†   (source)
  • I'm a little preoccupied watching the sweat drip down his chest.†   (source)
  • He seemed preoccupied.†   (source)
  • She knew that her mother was absentminded and preoccupied, but this was ridiculous.†   (source)
  • Phase One: preoccupation; difficulty focusing; dry mouth; perspiration, sweaty palms; dizziness and disorientation.†   (source)
  • "You guys are funny," Olly says, almost smiling, but obviously preoccupied.†   (source)
  • His face was preoccupied, his eyes distant.†   (source)
  • I was sort of preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Most of the crowd was still preoccupied watching Elizabeth.†   (source)
  • Eragon and Brom had their nightly fight, but it lacked energy, as both were preoccupied with the day's events.†   (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)
  • The hope-chest program didn't last long as our main preoccupation.†   (source)
  • I had been without it since then, and too preoccupied to notice.†   (source)
  • I was a little preoccupied…… " "Hon, I've been meaning to talk to you about that.†   (source)
  • "It was on Monday," said Sol, preoccupied with something he was reading.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • Tante Jans's preoccupation with death might have been funny, but it wasn't.†   (source)
  • Most people in Coalwood were preoccupied with other matters more down to this earth.†   (source)
  • Why so preoccupied?†   (source)
  • Half a dozen gorgeous dryads moved between the tables, offering food and drink, but I was so preoccupied I couldn't fully appreciate their beauty.†   (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)
  • We told each other everything, within the limits of one's preoccupation with breeding and tact.†   (source)
  • Dustfinger pretended to be preoccupied with pulling a loose thread from his coat sleeve.†   (source)
  • Kuttappen mortified, the twins preoccupied with boat thoughts.†   (source)
  • She knew I was preoccupied, heading to the Internet to research possible medical treatments.†   (source)
  • So, then we've been seduced into this preoccupation with authority?"†   (source)
  • We report to the Officer, who looks a bit preoccupied with the visitors waiting for us.†   (source)
  • What little part of my mind wasn't leaden with fatigue was preoccupied with the screaming pain across my back.†   (source)
  • The longer I'm with him, the more I hear a preoccupation with race, ethnicity and sexual preference.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • The unconscious preoccupation with water here weighed on her mind.†   (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)
  • The snowstorm, just now, preoccupied him.†   (source)
  • Perhaps that was why her mother said, "You are rather preoccupied these days, Sphie."†   (source)
  • Preoccupied with that revelation, she trips on the sidewalk crack.†   (source)
  • But his boss seemed preoccupied and didn't notice.†   (source)
  • I'd been so preoccupied, I didn't realize until this moment that neither of my stories was true.†   (source)
  • Most of all she couldn't bear having her head so preoccupied and nothing useful to do with her hands.†   (source)
  • The Warden must have been preoccupied.†   (source)
  • But don't forget that he was preoccupied playing the role of the big industrialist.†   (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)
  • I was preoccupied debating whether or not I really wanted to meet Elliot tonight.†   (source)
  • Glancing around the small, sparse bedroom to see if I had forgotten anything, I noticed him sitting on the bed, still preoccupied.†   (source)
  • "Just the same," said Richard, in a preoccupied tone, "nobody can work all the time."†   (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)
  • I'm so preoccupied that I'm almost at the table before I look up.†   (source)
  • The SS seemed more preoccupied more disturbed than usual.†   (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)
  • He seemed quite to have lost the preoccupied air that had troubled Hazel the night before.†   (source)
  • As the bell rang I was quickly putting up the curry combs, happy that Lenobia had let me groom Persephone again, and preoccupied because she had also told me that starting next week she thought I might actually begin riding her.†   (source)
  • The old understanding of handling crime epidemics leads inevitably to a preoccupation with defensive measures against crime.†   (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)
  • On this particular day, Rosemarie was preoccupied with my headgear.†   (source)
  • The captain seemed very preoccupied.†   (source)
  • She had been aware of his preoccupations, whereas he had had no inkling of her intentions.†   (source)
  • Even so, as much as I loved my new daughter, part of me was preoccupied with the Team.†   (source)
  • He's fishing but Mademoiselle LeFarge can't see that he's interested in more than her preoccupation with the occult.†   (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)
  • Fredi didn't want the kids preoccupied when they presented themselves to the experts.†   (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)
  • That, in a nutshell, was the end of my preoccupation with death.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • A wilderness of mortals surrounded us, groping, blind, preoccupied, and the brides and bridegrooms of death.†   (source)
  • But her good intentions clashed with her need to talk with her uncle about the things that preoccupied her.†   (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)
  • Of course, the dreams that I had during my illness continued to preoccupy me.†   (source)
  • They'd been too preoccupied with the mother.†   (source)
  • You'll find a preoccupation with the Gathering.†   (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)
  • He seemed preoccupied and did not look at Jake.†   (source)
  • Cesar was too preoccupied with watching Angel warm up to notice.†   (source)
  • I didn't answer, and she said, "You always hum that tune when you're 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)
  • 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)
  • I was preoccupied, what can I say?†   (source)
  • He would cut school to be with them and his parents were too preoccupied either to notice or care.†   (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)
  • He didn't ask what decisions kept her preoccupied.†   (source)
  • There was something of David in her now, an abstracted quality that made Max feel as though his questions were intruding upon a mind feverishly preoccupied with weightier matters.†   (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)
  • 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 preoccupied with a problem of his own.†   (source)
  • From the way she looked absently around the room it was obvious she was preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Bemused'is another one, People seem to think it means amused, rather than bewildered or preoccupied.†   (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)
  • 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'll have your due turn," I said, annoyed that he was still preoccupied with the issue.†   (source)
  • Alessandro's struggles and preoccupations centered on hope and will.†   (source)
  • It would be a mistake, however, to assume that Confederate soldiers were constantly preoccupied with this matter.†   (source)
  • You seem preoccupied by this soirée.†   (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)
  • Preoccupied with his moral instruction, he probably failed to attend important religious festivals.†   (source)
  • I knew Mo was preoccupied when she didn't even ask Misty what that meant, splashing the woman.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • You were preoccupied?†   (source)
  • Which has been my other preoccupation.†   (source)
  • I had little time to spare for Mike, but I did notice that he seemed deeply preoccupied.†   (source)
  • May be preoccupied.†   (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)
  • A preoccupied child who took his bowl with one hand got a sideways glare.†   (source)
  • The Chinese never liked Russia's preoccupation with the Med," Hazzard said.†   (source)
  • My greatest preoccupation was that moment of transition when I would "pass over."†   (source)
  • Jeffrey Greggson was one islander who, as yet, had no interest in esthetics or science, the two main preoccupations of his elders.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • A wiry five-eight, graycropped, gray eyes back of horn-rims and heavy glass, cycling between preoccupation and near-frantic darting, he had had a way of verbalizing half-completed thoughts as he went along, so that you might begin to think him a representative of that tribe which had come into positions of small authority by means of nepotism or politics.†   (source)
  • Twenty-four hours ago he'd have explained to Peter what he was looking for; but he was too preoccupied now.†   (source)
  • Metty, too, was like a man with preoccupations.†   (source)
  • He went on as before, but he looked preoccupied.†   (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)
  • So I had to be content without him; but contentment cannot be forced, and Nathan noticed my preoccupation.†   (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)
  • Preoccupied, be let the lights glow softly on ahead of him, extinguish behind him as he padded to the nursery door.†   (source)
  • Dick came back half an hour later, glad to see her, but preoccupied.†   (source)
  • Both Marcus and Johanna are too preoccupied to notice the movement.†   (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)
  • "Private — with you?" said Harry, surprised out of his preoccupied silence.†   (source)
  • Hadn't Shinny seemed strangely distant, strangely preoccupied?†   (source)
  • But she was now preoccupied with her cabinet.†   (source)
  • I didn't respond; I was too preoccupied with finding a safe route into the rally.†   (source)
  • At least it was a day shaped around what they were so preoccupied by: my absence.†   (source)
  • I muttered, preoccupied by the way he'd said "you and I. I liked it more than I should.†   (source)
  • And I could have done it myself when I was …. well …. when I was preoccupied.†   (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)
  • These thoughts preoccupied her as she washed her hands and face and chose a clean dress.†   (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)
  • His expression was perturbed and preoccupied.†   (source)
  • , and I came home on the subway preoccupied and depressed.†   (source)
  • Ron was staring up at the high windows, looking slightly preoccupied.†   (source)
  • I think he's more preoccupied with Lucas, who, in his dazed state, has begun to drool.†   (source)
  • He too was preoccupied, busy at the Millennium offices.†   (source)
  • And Wu had been too preoccupied with the idea of making improvements.†   (source)
  • I do not mean by this that we were preoccupied with our employers' private behaviour.†   (source)
  • I had to preoccupy myself with something, anything, to silence the voice in my head.†   (source)
  • But I see I am becoming preoccupied with these memories and this is perhaps a little foolish.†   (source)
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