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Definition
busy thinking about or doing something so that other things are not noticed or doneMuch more rarely, preoccupied can mean that someone has already inhabited or taken something.
- The matter preoccupies her completely—she cannot think of anything else
preoccupies = takes up the attention of
- She got no help from her husband who was preoccupied with the children.
- Her work preoccupies her.
- I never understood her preoccupation with heredity.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Water from the river now stretched across the road, but in her preoccupied state, she didn't realize it until she plowed into the water.Nicholas Sparks -- The Lucky One
- And, alas ... that goddess is preoccupied at the moment.Rick Riordan -- The Titan's Curse
- GEORGE (Seemingly relaxed and preoccupied, never looking): Oh, that's nice.Edward Albee -- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- She knew I was preoccupied by Grandpa, but my head was also filled now with storytellers and magicians in dark caves.David Almond -- Kit's Wilderness
- She passed an art gallery, almost walked by it in her preoccupation, then turned and went back.Nicholas Sparks -- The Notebook
- They seemed to be preoccupied, and he wished he could reach up and grab them and train them on the here and now.Alice Sebold -- The Lovely Bones
- Kyle was astonished that he hadn't found out about the divorce somehow, and Hatton was too preoccupied by my dad's creepy bedroom museum of death to talk about anything else.John Corey Whaley -- Nogin
- By this point, I had been preoccupied for some hours with the matter of Miss Kenton's sorrow, having given particular thought to the question of what I might best do or say to ease her burden a little.Kazuo Ishiguro -- The Remains of the Day
- Again, as I had often met it in my own church, I was confronted with the Impurity of Women doctrine that seemed to preoccupy all clergymen.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Maybe I was being dramatic, but I thought it was okay to guilt my best friend into spending time with me since I'd been, you know, preoccupied for so long.John Corey Whaley -- Nogin
- a preoccupied frown
- I was preoccupied with business matters.Arthur Conan Doyle -- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
- So if sometimes I saw she was preoccupied I considered that probably her preoccupations were with me.Saul Bellow -- The Adventures of Augie March
- But the train jolts into motion, and the man finishes his cigarette and gives her a preoccupied smile and promptly falls asleep.Anthony Doerr -- All the Light We Cannot See
- The thought of what comes next has me preoccupied.Veronica Roth -- Divergent
- Firstly, my mind was too preoccupied to be able to take in the subject clearly.Charles Dickens -- Great Expectations
preoccupied = already busy
preoccupies = takes up the attention of
preoccupation = continual thought and interest
(editor's note: The suffix "-tion", converts a verb into a noun that denotes the action or result of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in action, education, and observation.)
preoccupied = took up the attention of
preoccupied = took up the attention of
preoccupied = took up the attention of
preoccupied = took up the attention of
preoccupation = involvement thinking about something
(editor's note: The suffix "-tion", converts a verb into a noun that denotes the action or result of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in action, education, and observation.)
preoccupied = took up the attention of
preoccupied = busy thinking about something (so that other things are not done)
preoccupied = took up the attention of
preoccupy = keep occupying the interest
(editor's note: The suffix "-tions", converts a verb into a plural noun that denotes results of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in actions, illustrations, and observations.)