occupy

verb

oc·cu·py | \ ˈä-kyə-ˌpī

occupied; occupying

Definition of occupy

transitive verb

1 : to engage the attention or energies of They occupied themselves with video games.

2a : to take up (a place or extent in space) this chair is occupied the fireplace will occupy this corner of the room

b : to take or fill (an extent in time) the hobby occupies all of my free time

3a : to take or hold possession or control of enemy troops occupied the ridge

b : to fill or perform the functions of (an office or position) will occupy the newly created office of chancellor — Current Biography

4 : to reside in as an owner or tenant occupies an apartment on a two-year lease

Other Words from occupy Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about occupy

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Examples of occupy in a Sentence

They have occupied the apartment for three years. She occupies the house that her grandfather built 50 years ago. They own another house that they occupy only three months out of the year. They occupy the room next to ours. This region was once almost completely occupied by forests. Their house occupies a beautiful spot next to the ocean. Much of our time is occupied by answering questions from our customers. These questions have continued to occupy her mind.

Recent Examples on the Web

Since November of 2018, your networks have grown as Jupiter (the planet of expansion) has occupied your house of community. — Randon Rosenbohm, Allure, "What April’s Aquarius Horoscope Means for You," 31 Mar. 2019 Despite occupying a promising timeslot behind The Voice in its first season, Timeless routinely lost a huge chunk of the reality show’s lead-in viewership. — Todd Vanderwerff, Vox, "Why more TV shows should do year-end Christmas specials," 23 Dec. 2018 Matches take place in rectangular stages of different sizes, with both characters occupying the same 2D plane like in most 2D fighting games. — Michael Moore, The Verge, "Lethal League Blaze turns handball into a stylish fighting game," 9 Dec. 2018 Instead of a simple horizontal or vertical array in the center or the corner like every other phone does, Huawei turned its triple-camera array into a square called the Matrix, with the flash occupying the upper right corner. — Michael Simon, PCWorld, "Huawei Mate 20 Mate 20 Pro hands on: Enter the Matrix with the do-it-all Android phones," 16 Oct. 2018 Djibouti accused Eritrean troops of occupying the Dumeira mountain area shortly after the peacekeepers left. — Elias Meseret, Fox News, "Eritrea, Djibouti agree to normalize diplomatic relations," 7 Sep. 2018 When crowds ransacked the presidential palace after Hussein was overthrown, the car’s original owner presented his ownership documents to occupying American forces and got his car back. — Mark Phelan, Detroit Free Press, "Saddam Hussein’s 1958 Bentley stars at Concours d'Elegance of America," 11 July 2018 The Canadian way As for Canada, our research can’t speak to Justin Trudeau’s prospects of occupying valuable real estate in hell. — Paul Poast, Washington Post, "These surprising countries could emerge as the heroes of NATO — and the liberal world order," 10 July 2018 The city has solicited request for proposals from businesses interested in occupying the 15,000 remaining square feet of retail space. — Benjy Egel, sacbee, "This local coffee shop and sourdough bakery could open in Sacramento’s Amtrak station," 28 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'occupy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for occupy

Middle English occupien "to take possession of, hold, inhabit, take up space in, fill, keep (oneself) busy," borrowed from Anglo-French occuper, occupier, borrowed from Latin occupāre "to grasp, appropriate to oneself, take possession of, fill up (space, a position), forestall," from oc-, assimilated variant of ob- ob- + -cupāre, intensive derivative of capere "to take, seize, catch" — more at heave entry 1

Note: The source of the -i- in Anglo-French occupier and Middle English occupien, retained in Modern English, is unclear, as continental French has only occuper. The verb occupy, common in later Middle and early Modern English, was very infrequently used in the 17th and first two thirds of the 18th century; it has been suggested that this was due to the sense "to have sexual intercourse with (a woman)," which impinged by connotation on the less charged meanings and led to a taboo on any use of the word. When the socially unacceptable sense fell out of circulation occupy once more became a generally used word.

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