preoccupation

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: pre=oc=cu=pa=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

preoccupation, n. [L. praeoccupatio: cf. F. préoccupation.].

•  The act of preoccupying, or taking possession of beforehand; the state of being preoccupied; prepossession.  [1913 Webster]
•  Anticipation of objections.  South.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

preoccupation, n.
1 the state of being preoccupied.
2 a thing that engrosses the mind.

Etymology

F pr{eacute}occupation or L praeoccupatio (as PREOCCUPY)

THESAURUS

preoccupation

Walter Mitty, absence of mind, absentmindedness, absorbed attention, absorption, abstractedness, abstraction, abulia, adoption, adverse possession, alienation, alodium, anxiety, anxiety equivalent, anxiety state, apathy, application, appropriation, arrogation, assiduity, assiduousness, assumption, bemusement, brown study, bulldog tenacity, burgage, castle-building, catatonic stupor, claim, close study, colonization, colony, complex, compulsion, concentration, conquest, constancy, contemplation, contemplativeness, daydream, daydreamer, daydreaming, de facto, de jure, deep study, deep thought, dejection, dependency, depression, depth of thought, derivative title, detachment, diligence, dogged perseverance, doggedness, dream, dreaming, elation, emotionalism, endurance, engagement, engrossment, enslavement, euphoria, fantasy, fantasying, fascination, fee fief, fee position, fee simple, fee simple absolute, fee simple conditional, fee simple defeasible, fee simple determinable, fee tail, feodum, feud, fidelity, fiefdom, fit of abstraction, fixation, fixed idea, folie du doute, frankalmoign, free socage, freehold, gavelkind, hang-up, having title to, hold, holding, hypercathexis, hypochondria, hysteria, hysterics, idee fixe, immersion, indefatigability, indent, indifference, industriousness, industry, insensibility, insistence, insistency, intentness, involvement, irresistible impulse, knight service, lay fee, lease, leasehold, legal claim, legal possession, lethargy, loyalty, mandate, mania, meditation, melancholia, melancholy, mental distress, monomania, mooning, moonraking, morbid drive, muse, musefulness, musing, muted ecstasy, obsession, obsessive compulsion, obstinacy, occupancy, occupation, original title, owning, pathological indecisiveness, patience, patience of Job, pensiveness, permanence, perseverance, persistence, persistency, pertinaciousness, pertinacity, pipe dream, pipe-dreaming, plodding, plugging, possessing, possession, preemption, preoccupancy, prepossession, prescription, profound thought, property, property rights, proprietary rights, psychalgia, psychomotor disturbance, rapt attention, reflectiveness, relentlessness, requisition, resolution, reverie, ruling passion, sedulity, sedulousness, seisin, single-mindedness, singleness of purpose, slogging, socage, speculativeness, squatting, stability, stamina, stargazing, staying power, steadfastness, steadiness, stick-to-itiveness, stubbornness, studiousness, study, stupor, subjugation, sublease, submersion, takeover, taking over, tenaciousness, tenacity, tenancy, tenantry, tenure, tenure in chivalry, thoughtfulness, tic, tirelessness, title, trance, twitching, underlease, undertenancy, unremittingness, unresponsiveness, unswerving attention, usucapion, usurpation, villein socage, villeinhold, villenage, wistfulness, withdrawal, woolgathering

ROGET THESAURUS

preoccupation

Inattention

N inattention, inconsideration, inconsiderateness, oversight, inadvertence, inadvertency, nonobservance, disregard, supineness, etourderie, want of thought, heedlessness, insouciance, abstraction, absence of mind, absorption of mind, preoccupation, distraction, reverie, brown study, deep musing, fit of abstraction, inattentive, unobservant, unmindful, heedless, unthinking, unheeding, undiscerning, inadvertent, mindless, regardless, respectless, listless, blind, deaf, bird-witted, hand over head, cursory, percursory, giddy-brained, scatter-brained, hare-brained, unreflective, unreflecting, ecervele, offhand, dizzy, muzzy, brainsick, giddy, giddy as a goose, wild, harum-scarum, rantipole, highflying, heedless, careless, inconsiderate, thoughtless, absent, abstracted, distrait, absentminded, lost, lost in thought, wrapped in thought, rapt, in the clouds, bemused, dreaming on other things, musing on other things, preoccupied, engrossed, daydreaming, in a reverie, off one's guard, napping, dreamy, caught napping, disconcerted, distracted, put out, inattentively, inadvertently, absent-mindedly, per incuriam, sub silentio, Int, stand at ease, stand easy!, the attention wanders, one's wits gone a woolgathering, one's wits gone a bird's nesting, it never entered into one's head, the mind running on other things, one's thoughts being elsewhere, had it been a bear it would have bitten you.