Preoccupied With: Standard Pattern records the directly documented construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “preoccupied with” when someone is absorbed by or continually thinking about a concern, task, or subject.
Key details
Confusion Familyusage-construction
Rule Familyadjective complement
Termspreoccupied with
Further guidance
Construction
Cambridge documents “preoccupied with” for giving so much attention to a concern or subject that other things receive less attention.
Style Boundary
Preoccupied can also appear without an expressed complement when the object of concern is understood from context.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
Absent From: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Accountable For: Standard Pattern records the directly documented Cambridge construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Acquainted With: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Addicted To: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Adept At: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Adjacent To: Standard Pattern records the directly documented construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
