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. See More
Recent Examples on the WebReposted versions of the trailer occupy the No. 2 and 3 slots. Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 12 Sep. 2022 Popular culture and the media occupy no space in her imagination. Laura Miller, The New Yorker, 12 Sep. 2022 Their posters fight for attention with ten old-school videogames: Defender, Asteroids, and other classics occupy the adjoining hangar, next to T-shirt boxes and instrument cases. Chris Norris, SPIN, 4 Sep. 2022 Russian forces occupy Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. Najmedin Meshkati, The Conversation, 26 Aug. 2022 Not all -tion words occupy slots in both categories, though, and which nouns are what kind has changed over the years. Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Aug. 2022 White men occupy the majority of these positions, and are also more likely to complete apprenticeships than other groups.oregonlive, 21 Aug. 2022 The species also occupy very different habitats, with the timber rattlesnake primarily an upland snake and the massasauga more associated with wetlands. Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2022 The property is unsafe to occupy due to asbestos and other issues. Jeff Mcdonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Aug. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
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.