[
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
- Economic concerns are preoccupying the voters in this election.
- I know that there's a lot of things that I really could be doing with this, but I'm not - every time I seem to put pen to paper, this is the stuff that's preoccupying me.
- This question continues to haunt us, and Moynihan's arguments about black culture still preoccupy and divide academics.
- The implementation of the 1996 act will continue to preoccupy Powell for the duration of his time as commissioner.
- What is preoccupying the council officials at the moment is where to get a fat cheque to pay the bloated workforce those salary arrears.
- But these problems, the ones that preoccupy people in their daily lives, are to do with the fact that the transport system isn't good enough.
- Crime and the fear of crime preoccupy the community.
- The report says that technologies for mitigating — rather than adapting to — climate change dominate because they preoccupy the more advanced developing countries and are potentially more lucrative.
- For a long time, going home to Florence had been my one and only aim, preoccupying me to the exclusion of all else. TIME OF THE WOLF
- It looks like the rising number of minorities in the prison system is a chronic problem that will preoccupy us for a long time.
