occupy
Americanverb (used with object)
-
occupies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
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)
-
(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 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
-
has been occupyingperfect progressive
Past
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occupiedsimple
-
had occupiedperfect
-
was occupyingprogressive
-
were occupyingprogressive
-
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:
Against zonal defences, an attacker can occupy a gap between opponents and become a free, unmarked player.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
Store directors occupy an important position in the effort to grow the customer base.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
That means many of them can occupy the same quantum state without the repulsion that applies to individual fermions.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
Some of the more dramatic effects from global warming are taking place in the poles, which occupy around 20 percent of the global ocean surface.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
I quickly turn away, occupy myself again with throwing pebbles.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
The iPhone-maker’s shares closed at a record, just enough to push the company’s market capitalization into territory that only chip colossus Nvidia occupies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
"Samuel occupies an important place in the historical narrative both in Bulgaria and in North Macedonia," Dimitar Bechev, a researcher at the Carnegie Europe think tank, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
As RM steps into the spotlight of the art world, he is learning to become comfortable with the uncomfortable in-between spaces he occupies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
This interpretation could explain why the 364-day calendar occupies such a prominent place in the Qumran writings even though it appears to have vanished from practical historical use.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
The ATC occupies a modest white house on a steep hill above the old part of town.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
The restaurant occupied a sprawling shopping center alongside an Olive Garden, a Cabela’s and a Costco, making it something of a regional mecca for homecoming dinners, birthday parties and Little League victories.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
To help pay their mortgage, they rent out the unit on Airbnb for 30 days or more during the nine to 10 months a year it isn’t occupied by family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
Hundreds of tents have occupied Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square since she was taken away on a stretcher last month after the real estate company that owned her flat drastically hiked the rent.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
Together with later discoveries from the same region, the ancient snake is helping scientists reconstruct a largely forgotten world in which massive serpents occupied the tropical landscapes of India.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
Lieutenant Dana had led his troops into Bryantown, a well-known place of Confederate intrigue, commandeered the tavern, and occupied the town.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
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
This suggests that the giant predator was part of a broader community of snakes occupying different ecological roles, rather than an isolated evolutionary oddity.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
Then come Bradford Bulls and Huddersfield Giants, with Toulouse Olympique and York Knights, occupying 13th and 14th, albeit with higher scores than last year.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
From a tool of the occupying allies, the organization became the BND, the official intelligence arm of the newly created Federal Republic, in the 1950s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Meals were the only times the zombies weren’t occupying the plush chairs, and if he sat here he could smell what was being served and pretend that he was eating it too.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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