All 4 Uses of
preoccupied
in
Black Like Me
- My greatest preoccupation was that moment of transition when I would "pass over."†
*
- I was sleepy, I was preoccupied with the magnificent music and I was trying to read while P. D. talked—a long, immensely funny monologue, punctuated every five minutes by: "Well, I'll shut up now and let you concentrate on that.†
preoccupied = took up the attention of
- He went through the motions of courteous research, but he could not hide his real preoccupation.†
- To live in a world where men do not love, where they cheat and are callous, is to sink into a preoccupation with death, and to see the futility of anything except virtue.†
Definitions:
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(1)
(preoccupied) busy thinking about or doing something so that other things are not noticed or done
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(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.