preoccupy
preoc·cupy
verb
1.
engage or engross the interest or attention of beforehand or occupy urgently or obsessively
- “His work preoccupies him”
- “The matter preoccupies her completley--she cannot think of anything else”
2.
occupy or take possession of beforehand or before another or appropriate for use in advance
- “the army preoccupied the hills”
Origin
From pre- + occupy, after Middle French preoccuper, and its source, Latin praeoccupo, praeoccupare. Doublet of preoccupate, now obsolete.
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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.