occupant
Americannoun
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a person, family, group, or organization that lives in, occupies, or has quarters or space in or on something.
the occupant of a taxicab; the occupants of the building.
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a tenant of a house, estate, office, etc.; resident.
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Law.
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an owner through occupancy.
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one who is in actual possession.
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noun
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a person, thing, etc, holding a position or place
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law a person who has possession of something, esp an estate, house, etc; tenant
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law a person who acquires by occupancy the title to something previously without an owner
Other Word Forms
- nonoccupant noun
- preoccupant noun
Etymology
Origin of occupant
1590–1600; < Middle French occupant, present participle of occuper. See occupy, -ant
Explanation
An occupant is someone who lives or stays at a place for awhile. A lot of your junk mail is addressed "To occupant" because the sender doesn't know who lives at your address. Being an occupant means you're occupying a place. This has nothing to do with owning a house or renting an apartment; if you live there, you're an occupant. There are other occupants too, as in politics. The President is often called "the current occupant of the White House," who replaced the former occupant. That kind of occupant has as much to do with politics as living space.
Vocabulary lists containing occupant
"Of Mice and Men"
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"Building Design and Construction Handbook," Vocabulary from Section 1
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"The Black Ferris" by Ray Bradbury
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When it opens June 19, it will set at least three modern-era records for a former White House occupant: time taken to be completed, project cost and the price to get inside.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
We meet them before we meet Sally and Theo, and whether they are figments or not, they are unmistakably haunting the new occupant who’s writing about them.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2026
He may live there for now, but his days as the current occupant are numbered.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 16, 2025
"Responding emergency services located the body of the pilot, believed to be the sole occupant of the aircraft," police said.
From Barron's • Nov. 30, 2025
It was strangely disturbing to think that he was not the only occupant of her world, but stranger still was how her routines were already in place, after only a few weeks in Port Harcourt.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
