preoccupy

B2 Topic:Mind & Cognition

US /pɹiˈɑkjupaɪ/ UK /pɹɪˈɒkjupaɪ/ See IPA manual

verb 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

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

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Topics

Mind & Cognition

# 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

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preoccupy

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