preoccupation

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French préoccupation and partly directly borrowed from Latin praeoccupātiō (“a seizing in advance”),^[2][3][4] which in post-classical Latin also meant anticipation, the figure of speech prolepsis, and prejudice, in Augustine in the 5th century.^[2] Etymonline, Merriam-Webster and Klein give only the Latin source.^[5][6][7] The Latin noun is formed from praeoccupātus, the past participle of praeoccupō (“to seize beforehand”),^[2][6][5] from prae- (“before”) and occupō (“to seize”), the source of occupy.^[5][6][3] French recorded préoccupation once in 1486 for care or concern, then for meeting an objection beforehand (1547), for prejudice (1580) and for being engrossed in something (1733).^[2] The OED compares Italian preoccupazione, from the 14th century, and preoccupy.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The meeting of objections before they are raised, a figure of speech in rhetoric also called prolepsis: 1552, in Huloet's Abcedarium Anglico Latinum.^[2] The Oxford Dictionary of English likewise says the word was first used in rhetoric, in the late 16th century,^[8] and Etymonline dates it to the 1550s in the sense "a seizing or occupying beforehand".^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1572 the word also meant a mind already taken up by an opinion, that is bias or prejudice, a sense that lasted into the 19th century.^[2][3][5] From 1658 it also meant the occupation of a place in advance.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) listed anticipation, prepossession and the anticipation of an objection, quoting a sermon by South for the last.^[9] The modern sense, the state of being engrossed by something, is recorded in the OED from 1788,^[2] while Etymonline dates "prior mental absorption" to 1854.^[5] From 1844 a preoccupation could also be the subject that fills a person's thoughts.^[2] The rhetorical sense was obsolete by the end of the 17th century.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1552 – the anticipation of objections in an argument; prolepsis (obsolete by 1683).^[2]
• 1572 – bias or prejudice of the mind (obsolete by 1875).^[2][3]
• 1658 – occupation of a place beforehand (obsolete).^[2][3]
• 1788 – the state of being engrossed by something.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1854.^[5]
• 1844 – a matter that dominates a person's thoughts.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being preoccupied or wholly absorbed by something, often too much: Her preoccupation with the deadline made her forget lunch.^[10][6][2]
2. Something that occupies or dominates the mind: Money was his chief preoccupation that winter.^[10][6][2]
3. (obsolete, 1552–1683) The answering of objections before they are raised; prolepsis.^[2][6][9]
4. (obsolete, 1572–1875) A mind already disposed one way; bias, prejudice, prepossession.^[2][9]

Word family

• overpreoccupation
• self-preoccupation

Related words

• preoccupy
• occupation
• occupy
• prolepsis

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins