preoccupy B2 Topic:Mind & Cognition US /pɹiˈɑkjupaɪ/ UK /pɹɪˈɒkjupaɪ/ See IPA manual Freq #123951 Meanings 1 verb To fill someone's mind so much that they cannot think about anything else. Worries about money preoccupied her for weeks. 2 verb To draw someone's attention away from something. The father tried to preoccupy the child with his keys. Thesaurus Word family Forms preoccupiedpreoccupiespreoccupying Related forms preoccupation Etymology AI details From pre- + occupy, after Middle French preoccuper, and its source, Latin praeoccupo, praeoccupare. Doublet of preoccupate, now obsolete. *keh₂p- Proto-Indo-European preoccuper Middle French praeoccupo Latin View etymology graph -> Topics Mind & Cognition External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # preoccupy **Type:** Word **Level:** B2 **Part of speech:** verb **IPA (US):** /pɹiˈɑkjupaɪ/ **IPA (UK):** /pɹɪˈɒkjupaɪ/ **Frequency rank:** 123951 ## Meanings 1. To fill someone's mind so much that they cannot think about anything else. 2. To draw someone's attention away from something. ## Examples - Worries about money preoccupied her for weeks. - The father tried to preoccupy the child with his keys. ## Related Forms - preoccupation ## Roots and Affixes - Root: *keh₂p- - Root: preoccuper - Root: praeoccupo ## Etymology From pre- + occupy, after Middle French preoccuper, and its source, Latin praeoccupo, praeoccupare. Doublet of preoccupate, now obsolete. ## AI Etymology Preoccupy comes from pre- + occupy, after Middle French preoccuper, and its source, Latin praeoccupo, praeoccupare. Doublet of preoccupate, now obsolete. The historical chain includes *keh₂p- (Proto-Indo-European), preoccuper (Middle French), praeoccupo (Latin). In present-day English it covers to fill someone's mind so much that they cannot think about anything else and to draw someone's attention away from something. The wider family includes related forms such as preoccupation. ## Topics - Mind & Cognition markdown