noun
- When you become obsessed with knitting, this is an example of a preoccupation with knitting.
- When you become obsessed with knitting, this is an example of when knitting is your new preoccupation.
Preoccupation is a state of being focused on and engrossed in something, or the thing that you are engrossed in.
preoccupation

- a preoccupying or being preoccupied, esp. mentally
- something, as an idea, which preoccupies one
Origin of preoccupation
Classical Latin praeoccupatiopreoccupation

noun
- The state of being preoccupied; absorption of the attention or intellect.
- Something that preoccupies or engrosses the mind: Money was their chief preoccupation.
preoccupation

Noun
(plural preoccupations)
- The state of being preoccupied or an idea that preoccupies the mind; enthrallment.
- The act of occupying something before someone else.
Origin
pre- +"Ž occupation