occupation

American  

[ok-yuh-pey-shuhn] / ˌɒk jəˈpeɪ ʃən /

noun

• occupations
  plural

1. 

   a person's usual or principal work or business, especially as a means of earning a living; vocation.

   Her occupation was dentistry.

   Synonyms:

   métier, craft, pursuit, employment

2. any activity in which a person is engaged.

3. possession, settlement, or use of land or property.

   Synonyms:

   occupancy

4. the act of occupying, possessing, or settling.

5. the state of being occupied, taken over, or settled.

6. the state of being busy.

   His constant occupation with his writing has cut severely into his social life.

7. the seizure and control of an area by military forces, especially foreign territory.

8. the term of control of a territory by foreign military forces.

   Danish resistance during the German occupation.

9. tenure or the holding of an office or official function.

   during his occupation of the vice presidency.

10. the act of going into and taking control of a public or private space, as a park or building, especially as an act of protest.

    The students' week-long occupation of the dean's office brought about a change in the university's curfew policy.

11. the state or condition of living or working in a given place.

    The landlord will not allow occupation of any of his apartments by families with children or pets.

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occupation British  

/ ˌɒkjʊˈpeɪʃən /

noun

1. a person's regular work or profession; job or principal activity

2. any activity on which time is spent by a person

3. the act of occupying or the state of being occupied

4. the control of a country by a foreign military power

5. the period of time that a nation, place, or position is occupied

6. (modifier) for the use of the occupier of a particular property

   occupation road

   occupation bridge

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Synonym Usage

Occupation, business, profession, trade refer to the activity to which one regularly devotes oneself, especially one's regular work, or means of getting a living. Occupation is the general word: a pleasant or congenial occupation. Business especially suggests a commercial or mercantile occupation: the printing business. Profession implies an occupation requiring special knowledge and training in some field of science or learning: the profession of teaching. Trade suggests an occupation involving manual training and skill: one of the building trades.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonoccupation
  noun
• reoccupation
  noun
• self-occupation
  noun
• occupationless
  adjective
• occupative
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• occupations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of occupation

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English occupacioun, from Middle French occupation, from Latin occupātiōn-, stem of occupātiō “employment, seizure,” from occupāt(us) “seized” (past participle of occupāre “to seize, take hold”; see occupy) + -iō -ion

Explanation

An occupation is a physical takeover. Your student group's occupation of the college building made news when your demands became known. In exchange for leaving, you wanted the college to grant a tuition freeze. The occupation of a building can refer to the rightful habitation by its residents or the takeover of a building, as in a protest. The occupation of a country, however, always refers to the takeover and control of one country by another, as in the German occupation of France during WWII. The noun occupation can also mean your line of work or anything that occupies your time. Some people have unusual occupations, such as alligator wrangler or golf ball retriever.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

occupation occupations

The territory has previously been the scene of tensions with the United States during World War II, when France was under German occupation.

From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026

Unretouched triangular microlithic projectile points have been identified from their impact traces in the oldest occupation layers of the Obi-Rakhmat site in Uzbekistan, dating to 80,000 years ago.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026

In 1974 Bailey was one of the organisers behind the occupation of the Centrepoint building in London, as part of a protest against homelessness.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

While under Russian occupation, she welcomed Svitlana Pekaliuk, head of Oleksandrivka’s library, into her home.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

The National Socialist Bond, the quisling organization of Holland, grew larger and bolder with each month of occupation.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

According to Jung, about 11% of UK jobs are "highly exposed" to being replaced by AI chatbots, "led by secretarial and administrative occupations".

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

If working-class voters are those working low-wage jobs, then they are already majority women, who occupy two-thirds of the 40 lowest-paid occupations.

From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026

Within the U.S., they found that AI is being used across a large number of occupations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Education experts said one possible response to such a scenario is for state legislatures that set licensing requirements to decide some occupations — like barbers and stylists — actually need less training.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

I could join with Diana and Mary in all their occupations; converse with them as much as they wished, and aid them when and where they would allow me.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Related Words

• attack
• conquest
• invasion