[
UK
/pɹɪˈɒkjʊpˌaɪ/
]
[ US /pɹiˈɑkjəˌpaɪ/ ]
[ US /pɹiˈɑkjəˌpaɪ/ ]
VERB
-
engage or engross the interest or attention of beforehand or occupy urgently or obsessively
His work preoccupies him
The matter preoccupies her completely--she cannot think of anything else -
occupy or take possession of beforehand or before another or appropriate for use in advance
the army preoccupied the hills
How To Use preoccupy In A Sentence
- But at least by bearding MacDiarmid, Muir drew out into the open the issue of language which continues to occupy - if not preoccupy - Scottish poets today.
- However much we preoccupy ourselves with the pictorial features of Silas' birds, the death and decomposition that she analogizes, and which holds each of us enrapt, is ultimately significant of the death and decomposition of the human self. G. Roger Denson: Holocaust and Redemption in the Photography of Susan Silas
- Being with friends, entertaining and creating a luxurious setting all preoccupy you.
- Murders and attempted murders of state officials became almost routine, preoccupying and slowing down state administrators and inviting reprisals or, at least, harsh policies.
- Economic concerns are preoccupying the voters in this election.
- It is not only the formal, but also the processual and transitory elements of human situations that preoccupy the dramaturgists.
- You don't need to be Freud to guess what's preoccupying their subconscious.
- Why do sectarian issues so preoccupy these young people?
- I talk about things that preoccupy me, but I've got nothing significant to add to the greater good.
- The might-have-beens preoccupy us as a random natural disaster never can.
