preoccupation

See also: préoccupation

English

Alternative forms

• pre-occupation

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French préoccupation, from Latin praeoccupātiō. By surface analysis, pre- +‎ occupation or preoccupy +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹiɑkjʊˈpeɪʃən/, /ˌpriɑkjəˈpeɪʃən/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹiɒkjʊˈpeɪʃən/, /ˌpɹiɒkjəˈpeɪʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

preoccupation (countable and uncountable, plural preoccupations)

1. The state of being preoccupied or an idea that preoccupies the mind; enthrallment.
   • 1987, Latin American Research Review, page 238:

     The same preoccupation with developing a conceptual framework is evident in David Blank's Venezuela: Politics in a Petroleum Republic, a modified version of Blank's early theses.

   • 2014, Yeoh Guan, The Other Kuala Lumpur, page 96:

     Halalisation signifies a powerful and growing preoccupation with the proliferation of […]

   • 2017 December 6, Rogers Brubaker, “The New Language of European Populism”, in brubaker.scholar.ss.ucla.edu‎, page 4:

     At the same time that they invoke Christian identity, the civilizationists also stress their secularism. But there is no contradiction between the populist right’s Christianism and its secularism, since both derive from a preoccupation with Islam.

   • 2020 April, Elizabeth Kolbert, “Why we won't avoid a climate catastrophe”, in National Geographic‎:

     As an adult, I became a journalist whose beat is the environment. In a way, I’ve turned my youthful preoccupations into a profession.

   • 2021 September 2, Roger Cohen, “The French Left Is in Disarray, but Here Comes Anne Hidalgo”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN, archived from the original on 1 December 2021:

     Uncertain how to address a French preoccupation with security and immigration, and facing a generational fracture over identity politics, the left’s disarray has allowed Mr. Macron to tilt rightward for votes.

2. The act of occupying something before someone else.

Synonyms

• preoccupancy

Derived terms

• self-preoccupation

Related terms

• preoccupy
• occupation

Translations

the state of being preoccupied; enthrallment

Arabic: اِسْتِغْرَاق m (istiḡrāq), اِنْهِمَاك m (inhimāk), اِنْشِغَال m (inšiḡāl) Bulgarian: загриженост (bg) f (zagriženost) Czech: zaujetí n, starost f, posedlost f Finnish: uppoutuminen (fi), syventyminen (fi), kiinnostus (fi), päähänpinttymä (fi) German: Vertieftsein n, Beschäftigtsein n, beherrschender Gedanke m, Sorge (de) f, Anliegen (de) n, Besorgnis (de) f, gedankliches Verhaftetsein n, Präokkupation f (psychotherapy) Japanese: please add this translation if you can Persian: اشتغال فکری (ešteġâl-e fekri) Plautdietsch: Besätenheit f Russian: поглощённость f (pogloščónnostʹ), увлечённость (ru) f (uvlečónnostʹ), озабо́ченность (ru) f (ozabóčennostʹ) Serbo-Croatian: zaokupljenost (sh) Swedish: please add this translation if you can

the act of occupying something before someone else

Russian: заня́тие места зара́нее (zanjátije mesta zaráneje), заня́тие места ра́ньше другого (zanjátije mesta ránʹše drugovo)