PREOCCUPATION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Preoccupation

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/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.

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Etymology of 'Preoccupation'

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"Preoccupation" Quotes from Famous Books

... elements of his occupation are unknown. We have seen that when he wrote Catilina he had neither sat through nor read any of the plays of the world, whether ancient or modern. The pieces which belong to his student years reveal a preoccupation with Danish dramas of the older school, Oehlenschlaeger and (if we may guess what Norma was) Holberg, but with nothing else. Yet Ole Bull, one of the most far-sighted men of his time, must have ...

— Henrik Ibsen • Edmund Gosse

... black, but he said nothing. Luncheon was promptly served, and done justice to in spite of much preoccupation; for if there is one thing that gives a better appetite than another, it is a Sunday morning's service with a charity sermon to follow. As the guests might not talk on the subject they wanted to talk about, and were in no humour to speak ...

— Erewhon Revisited • Samuel Butler

... farther preoccupation, and she went out herself to take up her conference with the gardener. Thence she walked to the village post-office, a mile or so away; and when she turned toward home, the early ...

— The Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton, Part 2 (of 10) • Edith Wharton

... life of the Hills," she said to herself as she watched him. "He is keener than ever. All this steadfast devotion to club work is the devotion of duty. Now I know the meaning of those long vigils, those walks by the lake in the rain—of his preoccupation. His heart is in Cedar Mountain." And she honoured him all the more for that he had never spoken a ...

— The Preacher of Cedar Mountain - A Tale of the Open Country • Ernest Thompson Seton

... day,[34] and he had a reflected glory in being the friend of Winckelmann, who was reputed to have profited by his teaching in art. Under the inspiration of Oeser Goethe's interest in the plastic arts in general, which had received its first impulse at home, became a permanent preoccupation for the remainder of his life. He took regular lessons in drawing from Oeser, made acquaintance with all the collections, public and private, to be found in Leipzig, and even made a secret visit to the galleries in ...

— The Youth of Goethe • Peter Hume Brown

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