Library / English Dictionary

OCCUPY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: occupied   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Consume all of one's attention or time

Example:

Her interest in butterflies absorbs her completely

Synonyms:

absorb; engage; engross; occupy

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "occupy" is one way to...):

interest (excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "occupy"):

involve (occupy or engage the interest of)

consume (engage fully)

rivet (hold (someone's attention))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They occupy themselves

Derivation:

occupation (the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money)

occupation (any activity that occupies a person's attention)

Sense 2

Meaning:

March aggressively into another's territory by military force for the purposes of conquest and occupation

Example:

Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939

Synonyms:

invade; occupy

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "occupy" is one way to...):

assail; attack (launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "occupy"):

infest; overrun (invade in great numbers)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

occupation (the control of a country by military forces of a foreign power)

occupier (a member of a military force who is residing in a conquered foreign country)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Require (time or space)

Example:

This event occupied a very short time

Synonyms:

occupy; take; use up

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "occupy" is one way to...):

expend; use (use up, consume fully)

Verb group:

consume; deplete; eat; eat up; exhaust; run through; use up; wipe out (use up (resources or materials))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "occupy"):

be (spend or use time)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

occupation (the period of time during which a place or position or nation is occupied)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Assume, as of positions or roles

Example:

the young prince will soon occupy the throne

Synonyms:

fill; occupy; take

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "occupy" is one way to...):

do work; work (be employed)

Verb group:

assume; strike; take; take up (occupy or take on)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Keep busy with

Example:

She busies herself with her butterfly collection

Synonyms:

busy; occupy

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "occupy" is one way to...):

work (exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "occupy"):

potter; putter (work lightly)

dabble; play around; smatter (work with in an amateurish manner)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

occupation (any activity that occupies a person's attention)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Live (in a certain place)

Example:

he occupies two rooms on the top floor

Synonyms:

lodge in; occupy; reside

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "occupy" is one way to...):

dwell; inhabit; live; populate (be an inhabitant of or reside in)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "occupy"):

move in (occupy a place)

stay at (reside temporarily)

squat (occupy (a dwelling) illegally)

crash (occupy, usually uninvited)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

occupancy (an act of being a tenant or occupant)

occupant (someone who lives at a particular place for a prolonged period or who was born there)

occupation (the act of occupying or taking possession of a building)

occupier (someone who lives at a particular place for a prolonged period or who was born there)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Occupy the whole of

Example:

The liquid fills the container

Synonyms:

fill; occupy

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "occupy" is one way to...):

be (occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "occupy"):

crowd (fill or occupy to the point of overflowing)

take up (take up time or space)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

occupation (the period of time during which a place or position or nation is occupied)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Be on the mind of

Example:

I worry about the second Germanic consonant shift

Synonyms:

concern; interest; occupy; worry

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will occupy him

Derivation:

occupation (any activity that occupies a person's attention)

Credits

 Context examples: 

All month, and for most of the year, a group of planets will occupy your marriage sector.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The bed, against the rear wall, occupied two-thirds of the total space of the room.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The concept also refers to the unit of mass density (volumic mass) defined as the density of a substance which mass equal to one picogram occupies the volume of one deciliter.

(Picogram per Deciliter, NCI Thesaurus)

You feel, I suppose, that in losing Isabella, you lose half yourself: you feel a void in your heart which nothing else can occupy.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The researchers found that borrelidin simultaneously occupies the enzyme binding sites for the amino acid L-threonine, molecule tRNA, and energy molecule ATP.

(Scientists Discover Antibiotic Mechanism, NIH)

Different types of organisms did not occupy different parts of the water column to avoid competing for resources – a process known as tiering.

(Why life on Earth first got big, University of Cambridge)

An area occupying the most posterior aspect of the abdominal cavity.

(Murine Retroperitoneum, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

It is just the hour when papa most wants company: when the works are closed and he has no business to occupy him.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Adrenergic, Beta, Receptor Kinase 2 (ADRBK2), encoded by the ADRBK2 gene, specifically phosphorylates the agonist-occupied and -activated form of the beta-adrenergic and related G protein-coupled receptors.

(Beta-Adrenergic Receptor Kinase 2, NCI Thesaurus)

In the centre of the space it had occupied, he sat down.

(White Fang, by Jack London)