preoccupation

plural preoccupations · alternative pre-occupation

1. countableuncountableThe state of being preoccupied or an idea that preoccupies the mind; enthrallment.

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

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

   4 more examples

   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.

   1987, Latin American Research Review, page 238

   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.

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

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

   2020 April 28, Elizabeth Kolbert, “Why we won't avoid a climate catastrophe”, in National Geographic

   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.

   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 01 Dec 2021

   Synonyms: absorption

2. countableuncountableThe act of occupying something before someone else.