PREOCCUPATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does preoccupation mean? 

• PREOCCUPATION (noun)
  The noun PREOCCUPATION has 3 senses:

1. an idea that preoccupies the mind and holds the attention

2. the mental state of being preoccupied by something

3. the act of taking occupancy before someone else does

  Familiarity information: PREOCCUPATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PREOCCUPATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An idea that preoccupies the mind and holds the attention

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("preoccupation" is a kind of...):

idea; thought (the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "preoccupation"):

fixation; obsession (an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone)

hang-up (an emotional preoccupation)

hobbyhorse (a topic to which one constantly reverts)

self-absorption (preoccupation with yourself to the exclusion of everything else)

Derivation:

preoccupy (engage or engross the interest or attention of beforehand or occupy urgently or obsessively)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The mental state of being preoccupied by something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

absorption; engrossment; preoccupancy; preoccupation

Hypernyms ("preoccupation" is a kind of...):

cognitive state; state of mind (the state of a person's cognitive processes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "preoccupation"):

abstractedness; abstraction (preoccupation with something to the exclusion of all else)

absentmindedness (preoccupation so great that the ordinary demands on attention are ignored)

Derivation:

preoccupy (engage or engross the interest or attention of beforehand or occupy urgently or obsessively)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of taking occupancy before someone else does

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

preoccupancy; preoccupation

Hypernyms ("preoccupation" is a kind of...):

moving in; occupancy; occupation (the act of occupying or taking possession of a building)

Derivation:

preoccupy (occupy or take possession of beforehand or before another or appropriate for use in advance)

 Context examples 

Preoccupation with the fear of having, or the idea that one has, a serious disease based on the person's misinterpretation of bodily symptoms.

(Hypochondriasis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A disorder characterized by a preoccupation with gambling and the excitement that gambling with increasing risk provides.

(Pathological Gambling, NCI Thesaurus)

And I showed him an example, and sat down myself in my customary seat and with as fair an imitation of my ordinary manner to a patient, as the lateness of the hour, the nature of my preoccupations, and the horror I had of my visitor, would suffer me to muster.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Most of the confidences were unsought—frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon—for the intimate revelations of young men or at least the terms in which they express them are usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)