occupy
Americanverb (used with object)
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occupies,
present (3rd person singular)
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occupied,
past participle, past
-
occupying
present participle
-
to take or fill up (space, time, etc.).
I occupied my evenings reading novels.
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to engage or employ the mind, energy, or attention of.
Occupy the children with a game while I prepare dinner.
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to be a resident or tenant of; dwell in.
We occupied the same house for 20 years.
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to hold (a position, office, etc.).
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to take possession and control of (a place), as by military invasion.
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Usually Occupy to participate in a protest about (a social or political issue), as by taking possession or control of buildings or public places that are symbolic of the issue.
Let’s Occupy our voting rights!
The Occupy Wall Street movement of late 2011 was a protest against economic inequality.
verb (used without object)
-
occupies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
occupied,
past participle, past
-
occupying
present participle
-
to take or hold possession.
-
Usually Occupy to participate in a protest about a social or political issue.
adjective
verb
-
to live or be established in (a house, flat, office, etc)
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(often passive) to keep (a person) busy or engrossed; engage the attention of
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(often passive) to take up (a certain amount of time or space)
-
to take and hold possession of, esp as a demonstration
students occupied the college buildings
-
to fill or hold (a position or rank)
Synonym Usage
See have.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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occupysimple
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occupiessimple
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have occupiedperfect
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has occupiedperfect
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am occupyingprogressive
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are occupyingprogressive
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is occupyingprogressive
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have been occupyingperfect progressive
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has been occupyingperfect progressive
Past
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occupiedsimple
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had occupiedperfect
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was occupyingprogressive
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were occupyingprogressive
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had been occupyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of occupy
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English occupien, from Middle French occuper, from Latin occupāre “to seize, take hold, take up, make one's own,” equivalent to oc- oc- + -cup-, combining form of capere “to take, seize” + -āre infinitive suffix
Explanation
When you spend a lot of your free time reading tea leaves, you occupy yourself with that pastime, meaning it takes up your time and keeps you busy. An army can invade another country and occupy its territory, and this use of the word reflects its original Latin meaning, which was "to seize." There are also less aggressive forms of occupation, as with the family of chipmunks who occupy your garden. If you are the mayor of your town, you occupy an important office. And if you're a fan of Andy Warhol, a series of Campbell's soup can paintings may occupy a prominent place on your walls.
Vocabulary lists containing occupy
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
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The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It will be the fight of a generation, and it’s going to occupy your every day from now until a long time from now.
From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2026
"In Gazipur protesters tried to occupy the highway."
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero became the first Latina to occupy that role when Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed her in 2023.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
But there’s a reason the U.S. and Allies sent four million troops to occupy Nazi Germany—so they didn’t have to rely on hope to produce a satisfactory outcome.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
The overall effect, he wrote, “is thus to be in some degree of the character of a theatrical scene, to occupy the Exposition stage for a single summer.”
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
“SCTV” occupies a sacred place in the hearts of its fans, with their warped sense of humor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
But EU integration occupies a strikingly minor place in the students' election manifesto, which describes the bloc merely as Serbia's "most important economic partner".
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Instacart occupies a narrower niche than its soon-to-be owner — it offers grocery delivery from supermarkets and some retailers but does not deliver prepared meals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
Its position and extent suggest that it occupies the same magma storage system involved in the ancient eruption.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
One rainy day, with his mother shut in her room, he occupies himself bouncing a ball against the living room wall.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
Last year, by contrast, Russia could move supplies along the highways of occupied eastern Ukraine to within about 20 miles of the front line, with little fear that vehicles would be hit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2026
It said the plan to have one part of the new building occupied by March 2027 and the neonatal unit handed over by November 2027 depended on the success of the repair programme.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
Muhannad al-Tamimi, whose house had been occupied by soldiers since the operation began, returned to a trashed apartment with furniture and clothing littering the floors, mattresses overturned and a child's bicycle broken.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
Despite finding no human bones or teeth in the layer, they obtained enough genetic information to determine the ancestry of the people who had occupied the site.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026
“That means I will have to keep Edward Ashton thoroughly occupied for one and three-quarter hours.”
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
And so, that actually is what’s been occupying me in large part for the last 10+ years in my research.
From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2026
Germany gained control of the facility after occupying Norway in April 1940.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
It would have eaten small dinosaurs, lizards and mammals – occupying a similar role in the food chain to the hyena today.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
If there’s resistance to giving Christopher Nolan back-to-back best picture winners, the greatest threat might come from a movie occupying the same lane, an auteur-driven epic lauded by critics and embraced by audiences.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
Matter, as far as Descartes was concerned, had only one fundamental characteristic, that it occupied space; it followed that there could be no vacuum, as this would be space with nothing occupying it.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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