prepossession

Noun

1. A preoccupation; having possession beforehand.
   • I am fully sensible to the greatness of that freedom, which I take with you on the present occasion; a liberty which seemed to me scarcely allowable, when I reflected on that distinguished and dignified station in which...
   • It opens his designs to his family, it introduces you among them, it diffuses through the party those pleasantest feelings of our nature, eager curiosity and warm prepossession. - 1815 December (indicated as 1816),...
2. A preconceived opinion, or previous impression; bias, prejudice.
   • The spontaneous intellect of man always defines the divine which it feels in ways that harmonise with its temporary intellectual prepossessions. - 1902, William James, “Lecture XVIII: Philosophy”, in The Varieties of...