preoccupation.

A concern occupying attention so strongly that other matters receive less notice.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• constant preoccupation
• preoccupation with status

On the page

His preoccupation with status colored every conversation.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Countable or uncountable by context; countable singular preoccupation; plural preoccupations. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: character, interpretation. Commonness: moderately common.