Definition of 'preoccupy'
Video: pronunciation of
preoccupy
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
Word Frequency
preoccupy in British English
verbWord forms: -pies, -pying, -pied (transitive)
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word origin
C16: from Latin praeoccupāre to capture in advance, from prae before + occupāre to seize, take possession of
Word Frequency
preoccupy in American English
verb transitiveWord forms: preˈoccuˌpied or preˈoccuˌpying
2.
to occupy or take possession of before someone else or beforehand
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word Frequency
preoccupy in American English
(priˈɑkjəˌpai)
transitive verbWord forms: -pied, -pying
1.
to absorb or engross to the exclusion of other things
2.
to occupy beforehand or before others
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
preoccupier noun
Word origin
[1560–70; pre- + occupy]Examples of 'preoccupy' in a sentence
preoccupy
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In other languages
preoccupy
British English: preoccupy
VERB /prɪˈɒkjʊpaɪ/
If something is preoccupying you, you are thinking about it a lot.
Crime and the fear of crime preoccupy the community.
- American English: preoccupy /priˈɒkyəpaɪ/
- Brazilian Portuguese: preocupar
- Chinese: 占据某人的思绪
- European Spanish: preocupar
- French: préoccuper
- German: beschäftigen
- Italian: preoccupare
- Japanese: 心を奪う
- Korean: 생각을 사로잡다
- European Portuguese: preocupar
- Latin American Spanish: preocupar
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Definition of preoccupy from the Collins English Dictionary
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