occupyoc‧cu‧py /ˈɒkjəpaɪ $ ˈɑːk-/ ●●○ W2 AWL verb (past tense and past participle occupied, present participle occupying, third person singular occupies) [transitive] 
He occupies the house without paying any rent. The building was purchased and occupied by its new owners last year.2fill time if something occupies you or your time, you are busy doing it: Football occupies most of my leisure time.occupy somebody with (doing) something Only six percent of police time is occupied with criminal incidents.3fill space to fill a particular amount of space SYN take up: Family photos occupied almost the entire wall.RegisterIn everyday English, people usually say that something takes up time or space rather than occupies it:· Work takes up most of her time.· That bed takes up almost the whole room.4control by force to enter a place in a large group and keep control of it, especially by military force: an occupying army Students occupied Sofia University on Monday.5occupy somebody’s mind/thoughts/attention if something occupies your mind etc, you think about that thing more than anything else: Work will occupy your mind and help you forget about him.6use to use something such as a room, seat, or bed: Many patients who are occupying hospital beds could be transferred to other places.7official position to have an official position or job SYN hold: Before becoming prime minister, he had already occupied several cabinet posts. → occupied
WORD ORIGINoccupy
Origin:
1300-1400 French occuper, from Latin occupareVERB TABLE
occupy
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | occupy |
| he, she, it | occupies | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | occupied |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have occupied |
| he, she, it | has occupied | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had occupied |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will occupy |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have occupied |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am occupying |
| he, she, it | is occupying | |
| you, we, they | are occupying | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was occupying |
| you, we, they | were occupying | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been occupying |
| he, she, it | has been occupying | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been occupying |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be occupying |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been occupying |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Fishing occupies most of my spare time.
- Movie stars occupy the large suites on the third floor.
- The cafe occupies a single dimly lit room.
- Agonists are substances which are so similar to a specific neurotransmitter they can occupy that neurotransmitter's receptor perfectly.
- Debates within the social sciences have occupied an intellectual space which has drawn upon both scientific models and the humanities.
- He, Kramer, occupied some uncertain position in the middle.
- The loss of activity Work will have usually occupied a considerable part of an individual's life prior to retirement.
WORD SETS
action stations, nounaide-de-camp, nounairborne, adjectiveaircraft carrier, nounairlift, nounallied, adjectivearmour, nounarms control, nounarms race, nounarray, verbassault course, nounAWOL, adjectivebalance of power, nounbandmaster, nounbandsman, nounbase, nounbattle, nounbattle, verbbattle cry, nounbattlefield, nounbattlements, nounbeachhead, nounbivouac, nounblackout, nounblast, verbblitz, nounblockade, nounblockade, verbblockhouse, nounbloodshed, nounbody bag, nounbody count, nounbomb, verbbombard, verbbombardment, nounbomb disposal, nounboot camp, nounbowman, nounbreastplate, nounbridgehead, nounbunker, nouncall-up, nouncannonade, nouncapability, nouncaptain, nouncapture, nouncarrier, nouncashier, verbcenotaph, nounchief of staff, nouncitation, nouncivil defence, nounC.O., nouncommand, nouncommand, verbcommandant, nouncommander, nouncommander in chief, nouncommand post, nouncommissariat, nouncommissary, nouncommission, nouncommissioned officer, nounconquer, verbconquest, nounconscientious objector, nounconscript, verbconscript, nounconscription, nounconvoy, verbcookhouse, nounCorp., corporal, nouncorps, nouncounterinsurgency, nouncounterintelligence, nouncountermand, verbcounter-revolution, nouncourt-martial, nouncourt-martial, verbcross, noundawn raid, noundeath camp, noundemilitarize, verbdemobilize, verbdeploy, verbdetonate, verbdisarm, verbdisarmament, noundispatch, noundraft board, noundraft card, noundraft dodger, noundraftee, noundress uniform, noundrum major, noundump, nounechelon, nounencamp, verbenemy, nounengage, verbengagement, nounenlist, verbenlisted, adjectiveexchange, nounex-serviceman, nounex-servicewoman, nounfield, verbfirst lieutenant, nounfirst strike, nounflak jacket, nounflash, nounfort, nounfortress, nounfoxhole, nounFPO, front, noungas mask, noungeneral headquarters, nounGHQ, nounguardhouse, nounheadquarters, nounhigh command, nounHQ, nounincursion, nounindefensible, adjectiveinsignia, nouninstallation, nouninsubordination, nounintelligence, nouninternment, nouninvade, verbinvader, nouninvasion, nounkit bag, nounKP, nounlieutenant, nounline, nounMaj., major, nounmajor general, nounman, nounmarch, verbmarch, nounmarch-past, nounmarshal, nounmassacre, nounmassacre, verbmess, nounmess, verbmilitarism, nounmilitarized, adjectiveMilitary Academy, nounMilitary Cross, nounmilitary service, nounmilitia, nounmilitiaman, nounminuteman, nounmission, nounMP, nounmutineer, nounmutinous, adjectivemutiny, nounnational service, nounNATO, nounNCO, nounno-man's-land, nounnon-aggression, nounnon-aligned, adjectivenon-combatant, nounobjective, nounobservation post, nounoccupation, nounoccupy, verboffence, nounoffensive, adjectiveoffensive, nounofficer, nounoperation, nounorderly, nounoutflank, verboutpost, nounoverthrow, verboverwhelm, verbpact, nounpadre, nounparade, nounparamilitary, adjectiveparapet, nounpartisan, nounpassword, nounpatrol, nounperilous, adjectiveperiscope, nounpillbox, nounpincer movement, nounpost, verbPOW, nounpre-war, adjectiveprisoner, nounprisoner of war, nounPurple Heart, nounpush, nounputsch, nounPX, nounquarter, verbquartermaster, nounquell, verbR & R, nounraid, nounraid, verbrank, nounrebellion, nounrecapture, verbreconnaissance, nounreconnoitre, verbrecruit, verbrecruit, nounreinforce, verbrelieve, verbRemembrance Day, nounrepel, verbrequisition, verbretake, verbretire, verbretreat, verbretreat, nounreview, nounreview, verbribbon, nounsabre-rattling, nounsally, nounsalute, verbsalute, nounsalvo, nounsamurai, nounscorched earth policy, nounscout, nounscout, verbscramble, verbsecond lieutenant, nounsentinel, nounsentry, nounsentry box, nounsergeant, nounsergeant major, nounserviceman, nounservicewoman, nounSgt., shell, verbshelling, nounsiege, nounskirmish, nounstaff officer, nounstaging area, nounstandard-issue, adjectivestar, nounstation, nounstation, verbstrategic, adjectivestrategist, nounstrategy, nounstripe, nounstronghold, nounsuperpower, nounsuppress, verbsurgical strike, nounsurrender, verbsurrender, nountactical, adjectivetarget, nountarget, verbtask force, nountattoo, nountheatre, nountrench warfare, nountripwire, nountruce, nounturret, noununarmed, adjectiveunoccupied, adjectivevalour, nounveteran, nounvolunteer, nounvolunteer, verbwar chest, nounwar crime, nounwar cry, nounwar dance, nounwar effort, nounwarfare, nounwarhorse, nounwarlike, adjectivewarlord, nounwar memorial, nounwarmonger, nounwarrant officer, nounwarring, adjectivewarrior, nounwar-torn, adjectivewar widow, nounwar zone, nounwounded, adjectivezero hour, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES some toys to keep the kids amused
(=one that is in a foreign country which they control by force)· There was constant resistance to the occupying army.
(=controlled by an army from another country)· For many years, Egypt was an occupied country.
some toys to keep the kids amused· Those who occupy positions of power do not want democracy.
(=land that is controlled by a foreign country or its army)· America has always wanted Israel to give up some of the occupied territory.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· No, her servant's quarters were already occupied.· Clinton is the sixth president of the postwar era to win election to the White House while already occupying the Oval Office.· The back of a hearse which is already occupied.· Three of the four blocks of flats are already occupied and the remaining block will be completed shortly.· Guards led us into a cell that was already occupied by a woman.· The Diocese already occupies the premises as tenant, and no change of use is contemplated.· But there seemed no one about who was not already occupied with his own legitimate business.
· Further down is the factory formerly occupied by Bassett Lowke, the world famous model-making firm.· Much of the added land will consume an area formerly occupied by the 1, 000-foot-long Fleishhacker swimming pool.
· Are not Earth's children fully occupied with human inventions?· My mind was on my work, and I had never been more fully occupied.· The four beds in the lying-in ward were usually fully occupied.· He was always friendly enough, but seemed fully occupied with the bevy of young beach-boys who seemed to swarm around him.· But I had many other interests which kept me fully occupied at the time.· The reason that Leith did not immediately answer was that her brain was fully occupied.· The department is extremely busy and all existing machine and labour capacity is fully occupied.· Johnny was by now fully occupied with the fastenings on the controversial halter-necked garment.
· Once a casualty of war itself, now occupied by the peace keepers.· So what did it mean, that the Communists now occupied the region?· A biology student with a stutter now occupied the back room.· The warehouse space has been renovated and is now occupied by a variety of new businesses.· His position is now occupied by the ballerina and her partner or a soloist.· The prison stood on the site now occupied by the Tate Gallery.· The Efta states now occupy a position within a free-trade area, but outside Political union.· Government troops have been defeated and the Khmer Rouge now occupy Pailin.
· These will include the building on the north side of the street that the Sixth Street Pub once occupied.· Recently, the building once occupied by Pizza City was put up for rent.
· The building was still occupied, then.· Through the late 1930s and 1940s, buildings were sold or left to deteriorate, though still occupied by stars.· Present Hall built by Smiths of Warwick in 1690s and still occupied by the Cave family.· They are still occupied by things like MIAs, prisoners of war, refugees, things of the past.· Seven years after the Oslo accords several thousand settlers still occupy 40 % of the Gaza Strip.· In fact, human workers still occupy the most critical jobs - those where judgment and evaluation are essential.· The subject still occupied Charles's mind later that night.· In agriculture, which still occupied 27 percent of the workforce, underemployment was estimated to be high.
NOUN· Customs occupy a self-contained area within accommodation provided for freight companies requiring offices without warehousing.· These tracts of greatest housing need and highest minority and low-income concentration occupy most of the area known as South Phoenix.· Terri's personal space occupied an area roughly the size of Mull and therefore required vigorous defences.· Regularly, where intensive cultivation succeeds, civilized people in the Far East occupy only small areas.· Ingleborough's many tops, pavements and moors occupy a large complex area which takes many visits to really get to know.· Though with its own entrance, the photographic Salon occupied an area tout a cote that reserved for painting and sculpture.· It occupies an area of approximately 20 hectares and includes an administration block for the courts and associated administrative staff.· The huge opencast Dixon's site currently occupies this area.
· The consequence may well be the forms of bureaucracy that so occupy the attention of administrative reformers.· Other questions occupy his active attention, but this is the constant.· Project management is therefore a matter which should begin to occupy the attention of the various bodies involved in harmonization.
· May I ask who is going to occupy these buildings?· The bank already owns or occupies several building nearby, plus much of the adjacent site, which includes the NatWest tower.· Hunt told Hall's Committee that it occupied seventeen different buildings of which seven were requisitioned during the war.· It occupied an entire building and was similar in capacity to the programmable pocket calculator that one now buys at the stationers.· The present Government, like its predecessor, has urged organisations and institutions occupying non-domestic buildings to reduce their fuel consumption.
· Control of the money supply should occupy centre stage in the conduct of macroeconomic policy.· The prime mover of all generation is said to be the goddess Necessity, who occupies the centre of the universe.· Art occupies the centre from which nature is now absent.· They appear to occupy the centre of the stage, but in what guise?· The most important other piece is an upper torso of Athena, who occupied the centre of the gable.· It didn't occupy the centre of the room, however.
· He would have asked her to sit down but as he was occupying the only chair in the room he couldn't.· Celestine, still steaming, occupied the easy chair, while Stafford sat by the table wolfing down a plate of leftovers.· The leader of the council will usually occupy the chair of this committee or its equivalent.· An old man had occupied the lipstick-red lounge chair beside her.· Rev. P. Stewart was to occupy the Chair.
· Present Hall built by Smiths of Warwick in 1690s and still occupied by the Cave family.· Sheffield lives across the street on a block where five of the six houses are occupied by family members.· In any case, occupying families may also be victims of war.· This is land recently occupied by 16 families.· And in some ways that was the position she had occupied in her family.· Here the houses would be occupied by one family and not by a dozen or more assorted tenants.· The next house had been occupied by the Dear Family for several generations.
· Troops occupy the top floors of several high-rise buildings in both north and west Belfast.· Our offices when I began occupied two small doughnut-shaped floors in a building owned by Morgan Guaranty in the City.· The institution occupies three floors of a former textile factory which is lit by windows on both sides.· A drug store occupies the bottom floor, Petkus said, with refrigeration machinery installed on the second floor.· It occupied the top floor of the hotel and allowed spectacular views of the city.· Exhibit is free, and occupies the main floor, third floor and Special Collections lobby.· No one stays visible for long as snipers occupy the upper floors of those buildings left standing.
· A third of it was occupied by the surrendering forces.· The occupying forces generally stay within their heavily fortified garrisons for fear of attack.
· Catholic graves, ancient and modern, occupied most of the ground.· It was large, occupying most of the ground floor of the house.· Their origins and histories are varied, but all occupy ground that was previously glaciated and many are ancient.· Apples grown in the integrated orchard occupied the metaphorical middle ground.· It occupied the moral high ground and refused to budge.· Mr Aznar has successfully occupied the centre ground.· The key Labour politician, Ramsay MacDonald, was equally eager to occupy the middle ground.
· Small households that don't use much water but occupy homes with high rateable values could be much better off.· Sales of previously occupied homes fell for a second straight month by 6.6 percent, the National Association of Realtors reported yesterday.
· At one time a fifth of the town was occupied by religious houses or mission centres.· At the age of eighty-six, she occupied the largest house in the village, with the most sweeping view.· Vitor might not have been aware that she occupied the house, yet he had amassed some items of information about her.· Women orbited about surfers on the beach; they clung to them in cars; they occupied their houses in loose liaisons.· The main cause is family breakdown; with divorce and children leaving home, one family may occupy three houses.· Mrs Bujok and her family occupied a house as council tenants.· Donald lived on the premises and occupied the house at the end of the yard.· As the plaintiff had ceased to occupy the house, it was likely that she was not covered by insurance.
· Much more interesting are the larger complexes which occupy the vacant land immediately behind the main frontages.· The Army was the first service to occupy the land at present-day Miramar and called it Camp Kearny.· Jacob's dying blessing focusses on the distant future, when the descendants of these twelve will occupy the promised land.· Crofting townships occupy this land which is largely fenced and comprises improved grasslands.· So we decided to occupy some unused land owned by Don Juan Lopez, the big landowner of our region.· The protest came after police, supported by soldiers, had evicted squatters occupying unused private land.· Some farm workers on occupied land have been burned out of their homes which have then been looted.· One of the first tasks of the Habsburgs was to induce settlers to occupy the empty lands.
· They had other problems now to occupy their minds, as well as Balliol's whereabouts.· But ah, how I need some more engaging puzzle to occupy my mind today.· There are very many ways of course to occupy the mind and the techniques we describe are only a few suggestions for practice.· It occupied his mind, too, shrinking his vision of the sea clock.· So the season continued and the World Championships in Rome began more and more to occupy my mind.· I feel it was important that the men had work to do that occupied their minds and bodies.· She also had enough at Usher to occupy her mind without fretting about future possibilities.· Temporary relief from worry and anxiety can be achieved by totally occupying the mind with something else.
· That provision allows owners to evict tenants if the unit is to be occupied by the owner or an immediate relative.
· It's a completely different department from ours, but they occupy that part of the building for good reasons.· Phoenix will occupy part of the offices of Automated Communications Inc., a long-distance switching company that it acquired last year.· The viticultural zone occupies that part of Champagne known as the falaises or Champagne cliffs.· Still, it is indisputable that numbers, facts, rules, and things occupied a large part of his mental universe.· Her objective was to acquire Transylvania, and she now at once invaded that country and quickly occupied the greater part of it.· The loss of activity Work will have usually occupied a considerable part of an individual's life prior to retirement.· Midland Chandlers occupies a large part of the new shop.· They are drastic pieces of legislation which should rightly occupy a large part of the time of the House.
· It is said that private gardens occupy 3 percent of the land surface of Britain.· Counselors in more than 60 percent of the schools surveyed estimated that these students occupied only 5 percent of their career-counseling time.· Long- and cheap-haul facilities were vital in a poor country occupying 17 percent of the inhabited surface of the earth.· When the slow waves occupy 50 percent or more of the record the subject is judged to be in Stage 4 sleep.· In agriculture, which still occupied 27 percent of the workforce, underemployment was estimated to be high.· Hummocky moraines Morainic drift with a typical hummocky landform occupies about 10 percent of the Outer Hebrides.· They occupy about 50 percent of all hospital beds.
· Discomfort is easier to ignore if the person is occupied, and appears worse when attention is focused solely upon it.· The preliminary enquiry of a seller as to what other persons occupy the property is one precaution.· This was another case which homeless persons occupying temporary accommodation.· The time had come for a deaf person to occupy it and Hudson's chairmanship therefore lasted only three years.· But it was depressing, too, because he did not know a single person who occupied them.
· However, photography occupies a peculiar place among those activities, as pictures are themselves carriers of meanings and interpretations.· We occupy a high place in this land.· It came to occupy a unique place in constitutional law.· Gandhi could have returned to the train and occupied a place in third class.· In our wishful thinking about the 1960s, no figures occupy a more prominent place than the Kennedys.· Two particulars simultaneously occupying two different places are in virtue of this very fact two different particulars.· The usual group of shops occupies the market place today, with a new up-to-date health centre.
· There is a third position, one perhaps occupied by Rawls himself in his bleaker moments.· Point-factor systems tend to emphasize paying people for the positions they occupy rather than the skills they possess or their performance.· That is a curious position to occupy.· His position is now occupied by the ballerina and her partner or a soloist.· And in some ways that was the position she had occupied in her family.· We have already alluded in Chapter 2 to the prominent position this occupied in earlier Chomskyan grammar.· It is the position their family occupies in the hierarchy of their particular community in Britain.
· The Diocese already occupies the premises as tenant, and no change of use is contemplated.· At the London School of Economics the students had occupied the premises in February 1967 as their struggle intensified.
· Motor buses occupy a relatively minor role in the period covered by this volume.· The regional managers occupy a crucial role in providing a strategic framework for management of the Teacher Placement Service.· The organisation employs 13 employees, four of whom occupy management roles.· Surprisingly, among the inside players the bureaucracy did not occupy a particularly important role.· It is taken for granted that men do and should occupy the leadership roles and make the important decisions.· Her long-term goal is the re-establishment of a society in which the Church once more occupies this central role.
· Although Joseph Hyde had occupied the room for nearly eight years, he had done nothing to personalize it.· They occupied a room on the first floor for three hours before being evicted.· Our residents occupying rooms are not as well integrated in the community as those who share.· A biology student with a stutter now occupied the back room.· Lucas had not occupied his room for six or seven years.· Trippy occupied the front ground-floor room and a local Islington councillor lived in the basement.
· Chalky footprints in the back of the car suggest two men joined Mr Abberley, occupying the rear seats.· It came to occupy the seat of highest honour in their gospel.· When they spotted my camera, polling officers hurriedly occupied their seats, but there were no voters to be found.· But that is what has happened in Kent, where Conservative Keith Ferrin now occupies two seats on the council.· I accepted the invitation to occupy the right-hand seat and play the role of captain.
· Solid carbon dioxide has a similar structure with the C02 molecules occupying the lattice sites.· It occupies the site of a former school that was razed by fire.· As they often occupy cramped sites, London Board schools are usually multi-storey buildings.· The looms were used in local cottages, and warehouses occupied much of this site.· A block of flats now occupies the site.· Caldaire occupies the Grange Road site which has been earmarked.· Some travellers occupy the site legally after a festival last weekend.· Individuals then occupy particular feeding sites in the trees and there is competition for the best ones.
· Women are not only the embodiment of heavenly qualities but can also aspire t find and occupy a heavenly space.· Formerly, it occupied a smaller space a few blocks south on Spring Street.· Although it occupies much space, it is very tiny.· He also will begin work on the unit he plans to occupy and on ground-floor spaces.· Inside there were some long wooden huts which occupied almost all the space.· As we used to say, and sometimes still do, she occupied her space.· Four semi-roundels occupy the spaces between the arms of the saltire.
· The cheaper RISC-based machines are likely to impinge directly on the territory occupied by the company's newly announced Pentium machines.· For the Soviet Union, the return to any nation of territory occupied during the war would create a dangerous precedent.· The resolution reaffirmed the dejure applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to all territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem.· Within the territory occupied by the Slavs were many non-Slavs.
· Syd's health was the subject which chiefly occupied the thoughts of the majority.· Marge, occupied with her thoughts, got in quietly beside her.· It was a fancy which occupied their thoughts by day and their dreams by night.· There remained the problem of how to occupy his thoughts as he followed the old man.
· Nurturing this side of the business - with dramatic success - has occupied most of his time for the past 10 years.· To his left were the small eerie rooms inside boxes with which Susan was beginning to occupy her time.· Of course, Alladice can occupy his time in custody by lodging any number of formal complaints.· Key concerns are likely to be the question of money and how you will occupy your time.· Their maintenance should occupy the time of the aquarist as little as possible.· The castle was occupied until fairly recent times.· Quite how Rex and Loi occupied their time in the forward cabin was a mystery.
VERB· Alongside the new-fangled blast furnace the traditional bloom process must have continued to occupy many people for short periods every year.· Early into the strike, the university backed down, but a small core of radical students continued to occupy the campus.· Yet, incredibly, young rabbits can continue to occupy another section of the same burrow system and thrive near the earth.· Your clocks are equally valid only if you each continue to occupy an inertial reference frame.
· She hoped they kept him occupied all day.· Just enough flexing light to keep the room occupied.· Inertia has kept the sites occupied, but functionally many of them are not related to their countryside surroundings.· I try to be a cheerful person. Keep myself occupied.· Ever since I was a child I've liked to be alone, to play alone, to keep myself occupied alone.· Garry Shandling has a couple of film commitments that will keep him too occupied to work on the show.· Meanwhile some men were kept occupied on poor veins in the Keswick area.· It kept me occupied in otherwise hopeless situations.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY
- While she waited, she tried to occupy her mind with pleasant thoughts of the vacation.
WORD FAMILYnounoccupationoccupantoccupancyadjectiveoccupiedverboccupy
1stay in a place to live or stay in a place: He occupies the house without paying any rent. The building was purchased and occupied by its new owners last year.2fill time if something occupies you or your time, you are busy doing it: Football occupies most of my leisure time.occupy somebody with (doing) something Only six percent of police time is occupied with criminal incidents.3fill space to fill a particular amount of space SYN take up: Family photos occupied almost the entire wall.RegisterIn everyday English, people usually say that something takes up time or space rather than occupies it:· Work takes up most of her time.· That bed takes up almost the whole room.4control by force to enter a place in a large group and keep control of it, especially by military force: an occupying army Students occupied Sofia University on Monday.5occupy somebody’s mind/thoughts/attention if something occupies your mind etc, you think about that thing more than anything else: Work will occupy your mind and help you forget about him.6use to use something such as a room, seat, or bed: Many patients who are occupying hospital beds could be transferred to other places.7official position to have an official position or job SYN hold: Before becoming prime minister, he had already occupied several cabinet posts. → occupied