Preoccupating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Taking up or claiming something in advance, so that others are kept from having it or using it
2. Seizing or filling a place, position, or mind ahead of someone else, often before they can act
3. Getting in first to hold or engage something, usually in a rare or archaic sense of prior occupation

Etymology: "Preoccupating" is the present participle of a rare verb, "preoccupate," which means to seize or take possession of something in advance. The verb was borrowed from the stem of the Latin past participle of "praeoccupare," a compound of "prae-" (before) and "occupare" (to seize or take possession). Its ordinary cousin, "preoccupy," comes from the same Latin source, so the two are doublets: one entered English by a more direct route, the other kept closer to its Latin form. The Latin verb "occupare" itself is built from "ob-" (toward, against) and "capere" (to take), so the whole family carries the idea of grabbing hold of something. Putting "prae-" in front adds the sense of doing this ahead of others, which is why the core meaning stays so physical: getting hold of something before anyone else can.