Both Uses of
preoccupied
in
To Kill a Mockingbird
- 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.
p. 138.8preoccupy = keep occupying the interest
- I never understood her preoccupation with heredity.
p. 147.6 *preoccupation = continual thought and interest
Definitions:
-
(1)
(preoccupied) busy thinking about or doing something so that other things are not noticed or done
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, preoccupied can mean that someone has already inhabited or taken something.