How to Use preoccupy in a Sentence

preoccupy

verb

• The question of life after death has preoccupied many philosophers.
• The moves reflected the mood of a market that seems just as preoccupied with the virus as the rest of the world.
  — Alex Veiga, Fortune, 10 Mar. 2020
• Putin is preoccupied with raising the birth rate at any cost, but there are few signs this can be changed.
  — Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 7 Mar. 2024
• But House members will still be preoccupied with the Biden probe.
  — Eric Cortellessa, TIME, 22 Feb. 2024
• If a staffer is preoccupied with fear, imagine all the work not being done.
  — Bonnie Low-Kramen, Quartz, 14 Mar. 2023
• The character—and the series—was preoccupied with the notion of true love.
  — Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2023
• Tension over the bill preoccupied the Senate over two days last month.
  — David Ovalle, Anchorage Daily News, 6 Apr. 2023
• Yet the stories that preoccupy Holes are hard for others to hear.
  — Washington Post, 27 Apr. 2022
• What else could a good or viable life be preoccupied with?
  — Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 21 June 2023
• This mood is at odds with the behaviour of the family at the centre of the film who are preoccupied with building a dream life.
  — Hazlitt, 6 Mar. 2024
• During the two years before Hamas’s act of mass murder, the world of arms transfers had been preoccupied with weapons for Ukraine.
  — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2023
• In her last years, Jessie’s mother had been preoccupied with the plight of a series of endangered species.
  — Jessica Francis Kane, Harper's Magazine, 20 Nov. 2023
• But the bear, just 160 yards away, was preoccupied with filling his belly.
  — Kevin Farron, Outdoor Life, 21 Sep. 2023
• But no one pretends to know what is in Putin’s mind or whether the new unrest in Kazakhstan will preoccupy him and make a move in Ukraine less likely.
  — Steven Erlanger, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Jan. 2022
• The narrator becomes preoccupied by the man who has left the message.
  — Cressida Leyshon, The New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2023
• But Peter Barton, the farm’s owner, couldn’t help but be preoccupied with the forecast.
  — Elizabeth G. Dunn, New York Times, 31 Oct. 2023
• He is not preoccupied with the sins of the Communist era, or with Twitter trolls, or with Putin’s habit of shirtless horseback riding.
  — David Klion, The New Republic, 22 Jan. 2020
• France has long been preoccupied with the proper place of religion in public life.
  — Annabelle Timsit, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Aug. 2023
• The women are still preoccupied with the champagne incident in episode three.
  — Alicia Kortendick, al, 20 Jan. 2020
• But as Cameroonians grapple with the spread of Covid-19, they are also preoccupied with the absence of their leader.
  — Amindeh Blaise Atabong, Quartz Africa, 8 Apr. 2020
• On the road more mundane but no less urgent matters preoccupied us.
  — Adam Gopnik, Town & Country, 5 Mar. 2023
• The designer, who dyes his white hair black and straightens its curls, has been preoccupied with getting older.
  — Nick Haramis Ola Rindal Dogukan Nesanir, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2024
• Mathilde is preoccupied with her status as a woman and the status of women in general.
  — Marion Winik, Washington Post, 27 June 2023
• Younger Kenyans in particular say they are turned off by the byzantine feuds, alliances and back room deals that preoccupy their leaders.
  — New York Times, 6 Aug. 2022
• Musk sold billions worth of Tesla stock to help finance his takeover of Twitter and has been preoccupied with reshaping the platform.
  — Steve Mollman, Fortune, 11 Mar. 2023
• The shows below are emblematic of the year 2019, each one a different version of what humans sound like or of what preoccupies our minds.
  — Laura Jane Standley, The Atlantic, 27 Dec. 2019
• Those concerns preoccupied people not only in real life but also in a plethora of books, shows, and movies.
  — Faith Hill, The Atlantic, 19 Mar. 2024
• Across the county, adults were preoccupied with whistleblowing and extortion and quid pro quo.
  — Ty Vinson, Indianapolis Star, 24 Nov. 2019
• So here’s another quick exercise to try: Write down five ways your life would be more fulfilling if you weren’t preoccupied with food and your body.
  — Christine Byrne, Mph, SELF, 9 Feb. 2024
• The point of the exercise is to convince conservative voters that something is being done about all the woke mobs that preoccupy the fever dreams of right-wing media.
  — Katherine Stewart, The New Republic, 14 Feb. 2023

Last Updated: 28 May 2024