occupy

American  

[ok-yuh-pahy] / ˈɒk jəˌpaɪ /

verb (used with object)

• occupies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• occupied,
  past participle,  past
• occupying
  present participle

1. to take or fill up (space, time, etc.).

   I occupied my evenings reading novels.

2. to engage or employ the mind, energy, or attention of.

   Occupy the children with a game while I prepare dinner.

   Synonyms:

   busy, use

3. to be a resident or tenant of; dwell in.

   We occupied the same house for 20 years.

4. to hold (a position, office, etc.).

5. to take possession and control of (a place), as by military invasion.

   Synonyms:

   seize, capture

6. 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.

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verb (used without object)

• occupies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• occupied,
  past participle,  past
• occupying
  present participle

1. to take or hold possession.

2. Usually Occupy to participate in a protest about a social or political issue.

adjective

1. Usually Occupy of or relating to a protest about a social or political issue, as in Occupy movement, Occupy protest, and Occupy candidate:

   the Occupy movement for social justice.

occupy British  

/ ˈɒkjʊˌpaɪ /

verb

1. to live or be established in (a house, flat, office, etc)

2. (often passive) to keep (a person) busy or engrossed; engage the attention of

3. (often passive) to take up (a certain amount of time or space)

4. to take and hold possession of, esp as a demonstration

   students occupied the college buildings

5. to fill or hold (a position or rank)

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Synonym Usage

See have.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• occupier
  noun
• misoccupy
  verb
• reoccupy
  verb (used with object)
• occupiable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• occupying
  present
• occupied
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• occupy
  simple
• occupies
  simple
• have occupied
  perfect
• has occupied
  perfect
• am occupying
  progressive
• are occupying
  progressive
• is occupying
  progressive
• have been occupying
  perfect progressive
• has been occupying
  perfect progressive

Past

• occupied
  simple
• had occupied
  perfect
• was occupying
  progressive
• were occupying
  progressive
• had been occupying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will occupy
  simple
• will have occupied
  perfect
• will be occupying
  progressive
• will have been occupying
  perfect progressive

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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

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

occupy occupies occupied occupying

And it was done with the more dynamic style of 20-year-old Tyrique George playing on the left flank, which Grealish might have been expected to occupy.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

Haloed by light, the sitter—seemingly startled by our presence—does not occupy so much as define space, which feels malleable, strangely unstable, at times a mirage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

According to the musician’s complaint, Wonder and Efferson reached an oral agreement in 1988 that she can occupy the property without paying monthly rent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

Admittedly, times have changed, and yes, everyone has a small computer in their pocket and myriad ways to occupy their time before the show starts.

From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026

"After all, it's a pub. They can't occupy a whole pub."

From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway

But EU integration occupies a strikingly minor place in the students' election manifesto, which describes the bloc merely as Serbia's "most important economic partner".

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

The residence occupies approximately 3,495 square feet inside The Trust, a boutique property that houses just seven private residences.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

But cooking occupies a peculiar position in domestic life: necessary chore to some, passionate hobby to others, and sometimes both to the same person.

From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026

Those words capture a central tension in the sprawling show, which occupies interconnected galleries at the far end of the museum’s Resnick Pavilion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

I don’t need a reminder about something that occupies my thoughts 24-7.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

The Russian army seized Kherson in 2022 and occupied it for eight months before Kyiv's forces took back control.

From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026

When he goes to charge his Ford Mustang Mach-E, he increasingly finds the charging stations are already occupied by robotaxis.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026

Apparently, she’s been busy brokering a ceasefire between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the occupied city of Oleshky.

From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2026

Kizilov’s wife, Lyudmyla, recognized Tareyev and his men as they later occupied her house.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026

The inside of the sukkah was occupied mostly by a wooden table and chairs.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

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

Matheus Cunha was given the job instead, but he repeatedly dropped deep, right into the space Fernandes was occupying, and the pair never really found an effective way of dealing with it.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

If there’s resistance to giving Christopher Nolan back-to-back best picture winners, the greatest threat might come from a movie occupying the same lane, an auteur-driven epic lauded by critics and embraced by audiences.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

Currently occupying a repurposed warehouse near the farmers market, the museum is set to move to a new site with twice the gallery space in 2029.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

If there was a spirit occupying the attic, it was cold and angry, and the incident with the haint on the trolley was still fresh in Ophie’s mind.

From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland

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Related Words

• cover
• establish
• fill
• hold
• inhabit
• involve
• keep
• maintain
• own
• populate
• remain
• sit
• stay

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