PREOCCUPATION • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Preoccupation

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/priˌɑkjəpˈeɪʃən/ Listen

Preoccupation

noun

An idea that preoccupies the mind and holds the attention.

The mental state of being preoccupied by something. Synonyms: absorption, engrossment, preoccupancy.

The act of taking occupancy before someone else does. Synonym: preoccupancy.

See more definitions of Preoccupation...

See images of 'Preoccupation'

Etymology of 'Preoccupation'

Share |

"Preoccupation" Quotes from Famous Books

... too active to stay quietly at the house of Mr. Huysman. Only their host, Tayoga and he were present at their supper that evening, and, as the man was rather silent, the lads respected his preoccupation, believing that he was concerned with the great affairs in which he was having a part. After supper Tayoga left for the camp on the flats to see an Onondaga runner who had arrived that day, and Mr. Huysman, still immersed ...

— The Sun Of Quebec - A Story of a Great Crisis • Joseph A. Altsheler

... In his preoccupation he forgot that the supper hour was passing, but at last started hastily for his room. As he rapidly turned a sharp corner he nearly ran into two ladies who were coming from an opposite direction, and looking up saw Mrs. Mayhew and the flushed, resentful ...

— A Face Illumined • E. P. Roe

... perception in other directions; and when he attacked a subject, expecting results he had the faculty of keeping his mind alert, so that results different from those which he expected should not escape him through preoccupation. ...

— Faraday As A Discoverer • John Tyndall

... scarcely gone when the last Oxford post arrived, and a letter was brought up for Falloden. It was addressed in his father's hand-writing. He opened it mechanically; and in his preoccupation, he read it several times before he grasped ...

— Lady Connie • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... Beau-regard, laughing. "Well, it's even possible that in their furious preoccupation they let the schooner come close without spying her. Ah, Captain, you can hardly imagine— you, fresh from a civilized country, where folks must keep up appearances, while they prey upon one another—how this lust of gold brutalizes ...

— Poison Island • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (Q)

More quotes...