- 1 occupy something to fill or use a space, an area or an amount of time synonym take up The bed seemed to occupy most of the room. How much memory does the program occupy? Administrative work occupies half of my time. How do you occupy your time? Their time is fully occupied with their rigorous training regime.
- 2 occupy something (formal) to live or work in a room, house or building He occupies an office on the 12th floor. See related entries: Buying a home
- 3 occupy something to enter a place in a large group and take control of it, especially by military force The capital has been occupied by the rebel army. Protesting students occupied the TV station. Wordfinderprotestcivil disobedience, demonstrate, hunger strike, march, occupy, placard, protest, riot, sabotage, uprising
- 4 to fill your time or keep you busy doing something occupy somebody/something/yourself a game that will occupy the kids for hours Problems at work continued to occupy his mind for some time. occupy somebody/something/yourself with somebody/something She occupied herself with routine office tasks. occupy somebody/something/yourself (in) doing something She occupied herself doing routine office tasks.
- 5occupy something to have an official job or position synonym hold The president occupies the position for four years. jobs that have traditionally been occupied by men Word OriginMiddle English: formed irregularly from Old French occuper, from Latin occupare ‘seize’. A now obsolete vulgar sense ‘have sexual relations with’ seems to have led to the general avoidance of the word in the 17th and most of the 18th cent.
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BrE BrE//ˈɒkjupaɪ//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɑːkjupaɪ//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they occupy BrE BrE//ˈɒkjupaɪ//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɑːkjupaɪ//
he / she / it occupies BrE BrE//ˈɒkjupaɪz//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɑːkjupaɪz//
past simple occupied BrE BrE//ˈɒkjupaɪd//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɑːkjupaɪd//
past participle occupied BrE BrE//ˈɒkjupaɪd//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɑːkjupaɪd//
-ing form occupying BrE BrE//ˈɒkjupaɪɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɑːkjupaɪɪŋ//
Buying a homeCheck pronunciation: occupy
