From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpreoccupationpre‧oc‧cu‧pa‧tion /priːˌɒkjəˈpeɪʃən $ -ˌɑːk-/ ●○○ noun 1 [singular, uncountable]INTERESTED when someone thinks or worries about something a lot, with the result that they do not pay attention to other thingspreoccupation with the current preoccupation with sex and scandal The management’s preoccupation with costs and profits resulted in a drop in quality and customer service.2 [countable]OBSESSION something that you give all your attention tomain/chief/central etc preoccupation Their main preoccupation was how to feed their families.
Examples from the Corpus
preoccupation• Richards found a preoccupation amongst employers with the image of engineering.• And increasingly, the relatively brief preoccupation with methodology was seen to have run its course in economics.• In her hands she carried two things that made Creusa, in all her preoccupation, start and look sharply at them.• Linear preoccupation in the past remains a closed book to modern understanding.• Brad's main preoccupations were eating and sleeping.• A major preoccupation of writers on organization has been the design of structures that will maximize efficiency.• Music has been his major preoccupation since childhood.• Politics became the major preoccupation shared by all, rather than the concern of the ruling few.• Writing a will is not evidence of a morbid preoccupation with death.• Georgina's preoccupation with her appearance takes up most of her time.• In any case, the argument was quite remote from Lenin's preoccupation with binding up the wounds of national estrangement.preoccupation with• Rockburne's new paintings show her preoccupation with color and measurement.main/chief/central etc preoccupation• Pay flexibility is a main preoccupation of Mr Montagu and Mr Brown in the planning stage.• The national question as such still remains a central preoccupation for catholic nationalists.• A sleepless alien might legitimately conclude that Earthlings' central preoccupation was this peculiar sort of inactivity.• But his main preoccupation was with the unfinished Requiem, which had begun to prey on his mind.• That was even true of de Gaulle's other main preoccupation in these years - his ambitious and contentious foreign policy.• Mr Reynolds' main preoccupation before his operation is with the stoma which will be formed during the procedure.• When at home, Mr Berisha's main preoccupation is keeping his unruly party under control.• Power was the chief preoccupation of Lenin and Stalin. 