occupant
[ok-yuh-puh nt]
- a person, family, group, or organization that lives in, occupies, or has quarters or space in or on something: the occupant of a taxicab; the occupants of the building.
- a tenant of a house, estate, office, etc.; resident.
- Law.
- an owner through occupancy.
- one who is in actual possession.
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Origin of occupant
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for occupant
Contemporary Examples
Thus far the tomb at Amphipolis has produced artistic wonders, adding to speculation that its occupant(s) held very high rank.
He is a popular former governor and current occupant of the Senate seat that Gillespie seeks to win.
Indeed, the cupholders of every occupant in the row in front of me actually had chocolate milk in them.
I Was Way Too Old for Z100’s Jingle Ball Concert. But I Couldn’t Have Had More Fun.Kevin Fallon
December 14, 2013
The challenge was to connect with ordinary voters and make them feel comfortable with him as an occupant of the Oval Office.
In his quest for the White House, Mitt Romney has repeatedly made the case that he is a better manager than its current occupant.
Historical Examples
The pole and the canopy of the hammock tangled inextricably its occupant.
The Leopard WomanStewart Edward White
Was the occupant a rat or a skunk, and if so, what was he going to do?
A Woman TenderfootGrace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
Neither of the two had been there since its present occupant had had possession of it.
Little DorritCharles Dickens
The coffee-room had no other occupant, that forenoon, than the gentleman in brown.
A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
He had, perhaps, a trifle less respect for the room and its occupant.
Roden's CornerHenry Seton Merriman
occupant
- a person, thing, etc, holding a position or place
- law a person who has possession of something, esp an estate, house, etc; tenant
- law a person who acquires by occupancy the title to something previously without an owner
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for occupant
n.
1590s, "one who takes possession of something having no owner," from Middle French occupant (15c.) or directly from Latin occupantem (nominative occupans), present participle of occupare "to take possession of" (see occupy). Earlier noun form was ocupier (early 14c.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper