occupier
Britishnoun
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a person who is in possession or occupation of a house or land
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a person or thing that occupies
Explanation
An occupier is the person who legally lives in the house, apartment, or other dwelling in question. If the census taker comes to your home, she'll want to know if you are the occupier of the house, how many people live there with you, and so on. Occupier is based on occupy, which itself is from the Latin occupare, meaning to take over or possess. An occupier is also an army that lives and works in a conquered foreign country. After World War II, the American, British, French, and Russian armies were all occupiers of the German city of Berlin. Each country controlled its own areas, but eventually, the American, British, and French section became West Berlin, and the Russian section became East Berlin.
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.
“You rarely see an Orange County office deal of this size, and almost never from an occupier rather than an investor,” said Jesse Gundersheim, a senior director of market analytics for CoStar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Julie Whelan, CBRE’s head of U.S. occupier research, said more commuting is likely in the coming months.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
"The occupier, under the pretext of security and for its own interests, has closed the mosque," cleric Ayman Abu Najm, who had come from Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighbourhood in east Jerusalem, said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 20, 2026
“We clearly see how the occupier is trying to distract our forces and make our combat work less concentrated,” Mr. Zelensky said.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2024
The walls were studded with nails; perhaps the Yoruba occupier had hung up many photos.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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