occupy
[ok-yuh-pahy]
- to take or fill up (space, time, etc.): I occupied my evenings reading novels.
- to engage or employ the mind, energy, or attention of: Occupy the children with a game while I prepare dinner.
- to be a resident or tenant of; dwell in: We occupied the same house for 20 years.
- to hold (a position, office, etc.).
- to take possession and control of (a place), as by military invasion.
- (usually initial capital letter) 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.
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- to take or hold possession.
- (usually initial capital letter) to participate in a protest about a social or political issue.
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- (usually initial capital letter) of or relating to a protest about a social or political issue, as in Occupy movement; Occupy protest; Occupy candidate: the Occupy movement for social justice.
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Origin of occupy
1300–50; Middle English occupien < Middle French occuper < 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
Synonyms
See more synonyms for occupy on Thesaurus.com2. use, busy. 5. capture, seize.
Synonym study
1, 3–5. See have.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for occupied
Contemporary Examples
Guilt, when dispensed in the circumstances Morris occupied, is the anti-Viagra.
Visitors today can keep watch over the scene in the booth at the end of the bar that Capone and his cronies once occupied.
The company moved into what was called Bertha Island, and soon become synonymous with the land it occupied.
Inside two women screamed in front of a bed that occupied the center of the room.
The area has long been peaceful, missing out on the turmoil common to the Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Historical Examples
Between them, his days and nights were occupied to crowding.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Another subject attracted her attention and occupied some share of her thoughts.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
As she spoke, Milza, who was occupied in the next apartment, sneezed aloud.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
Harbour improvements have occupied much of the attention of Government.
Explorations in AustraliaJohn Forrest
The Jews have crossed the river Jordan and have occupied Palestine.
Ancient ManHendrik Willem van Loon
occupy
- to live or be established in (a house, flat, office, etc)
- (often passive) to keep (a person) busy or engrossed; engage the attention of
- (often passive) to take up (a certain amount of time or space)
- to take and hold possession of, esp as a demonstrationstudents occupied the college buildings
- to fill or hold (a position or rank)
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French occuper, from Latin occupāre to seize hold of, from ob- (intensive) + capere to take
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for occupied
adj.
late 15c., past participle adjective from occupy (v.). Of countries overrun by others, from 1940, originally with reference to France.
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occupy
v.
mid-14c., "to take possession of," also "to take up space or time, employ (someone)," irregularly borrowed from Old French occuper "occupy (a person or place), hold, seize" (13c.) or directly from Latin occupare "take over, seize, take into possession, possess, occupy," from ob "over" (see ob-) + intensive form of capere "to grasp, seize" (see capable). The final syllable of the English word is difficult to explain, but it is as old as the record; perhaps from a modification made in Anglo-French. During 16c.-17c. a common euphemism for "have sexual intercourse with" (sense attested from early 15c.), which caused it to fall from polite usage.
"A captaine? Gods light these villaines wil make the word as odious as the word occupy, which was an excellent good worde before it was il sorted." [Doll Tearsheet in "2 Henry IV"]
Related: Occupied; occupying.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper