Definition

1. Verb:
   • To reside in or use a place: To live in, stay in, or use a particular space or building.
   • To fill or take up (space, time, or attention): To use a particular amount of space or time; to engage someone's mind or attention fully.
   • To hold or fill (a position, role, or job): To have a particular job, position, or role.
   • To take control of a place by military force: To move into and take control of a place, especially by force.

Usage

• To reside in or use a place: This meaning focuses on physically being in a location.
• To fill or take up (space, time, or attention): This meaning is about consumption or engagement, often abstract (like time or mental space).
• To hold or fill (a position, role, or job): This is a formal use, relating to professional or official status.
• To take control of a place by military force: This is a specific, often political or historical, context of seizing territory.

Examples

• To reside in or use a place:
  • She occupies a small apartment in the city center.
  • The museum occupies a historic building.
• To fill or take up (space, time, or attention):
  • This table occupies too much space in the room.
  • Planning the event occupied most of my week.
  • A single thought occupied his mind.
• To hold or fill (a position, role, or job):
  • He occupies the position of Chief Financial Officer.
  • She has occupied the role of professor for twenty years.
• To take control of a place by military force:
  • The army was ordered to occupy the strategic town.
  • The region was occupied for several years during the war.

Advanced Usage

• "to occupy oneself with (something)": To keep oneself busy with a particular activity.
  • He occupies himself with gardening on the weekends.
• Passive voice for state of control: Often used in the passive voice to describe a state of being under foreign control.
  • The capital city is currently occupied by rebel forces.

Variants and Related Words

• Occupier (n): A person or group that occupies a place, especially by force.
  • The occupiers imposed a curfew.
• Occupant (n): A person who resides in or uses a space.
  • The current occupant of the house is very quiet.
• Occupation (n): The action or state of occupying; also, a job or profession.
  • The military occupation lasted a decade. (state of control)
  • Teaching is her chosen occupation. (profession)

Synonyms

• Inhabit: To live in or occupy a place (as a resident).
• Engage: To occupy or attract (someone's attention or interest).
• Hold: To have or occupy (a job or position).
• Take up: To fill or use (space or time).

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Occupy with: To keep someone busy or engaged with something.
  • The teacher occupied the children with a puzzle.

Related Idioms

• (To be) occupied with: To be busy doing or thinking about something.
  • She is completely occupied with her new research project.

Verb

1. assume, as of positions or roles
   • She took the job as director of development
   • he occupies the position of manager
   • the young prince will soon occupy the throne
2. consume all of one's attention or time
   • Her interest in butterflies absorbs her completely
3. require (time or space)
   • It took three hours to get to work this morning
   • This event occupied a very short time
4. march aggressively into another's territory by military force for the purposes of conquest and occupation
   • Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939
5. be on the mind of
   • I worry about the second Germanic consonant shift
6. occupy the whole of
   • The liquid fills the container
7. live (in a certain place)
   • She resides in Princeton
   • he occupies two rooms on the top floor
8. keep busy with
   • She busies herself with her butterfly collection