preoccupy

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preoccupy

/pɹɪˈɒkjupaɪ/ UK
/pɹiˈɑkjupaɪ/ US

Where it comes from

From pre- + occupy, after Middle French preoccuper, and its source, Latin praeoccupo, praeoccupare. Doublet of preoccupate, now obsolete.

verb preoccupies · preoccupying · preoccupied

transitive To distract; to draw attention elsewhere. The father tried to preoccupy the child with his keys.
transitive To worry or concern (someone) so as to distract them. It always preoccupies me when he acts like this.
Similar: exercise
obsolete, transitive To occupy or take possession of beforehand. Terrified at this uproar, […] she ran for shelter into the place which was pre-occupied by the other lady […].

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verb distract

Ελληνικά	απασχολώ apascholó

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MLA

"preoccupy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/preoccupy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

preoccupy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/preoccupy

Chicago

"preoccupy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/preoccupy.

BibTeX

@misc{preoccupy_2026,
  title = {preoccupy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/preoccupy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}