occupation

[ ok-yuh-pey-shuhn ]

noun

1. a person's usual or principal work or business, especially as a means of earning a living; vocation:

   Her occupation was dentistry.

   Synonyms: métier, craft, pursuit, employment

2. any activity in which a person is engaged.
3. possession, settlement, or use of land or property.

   Synonyms: occupancy

4. the act of occupying, possessing, or settling.
5. the state of being occupied, taken over, or settled.
6. the state of being busy:

   His constant occupation with his writing has cut severely into his social life.

7. the seizure and control of an area by military forces, especially foreign territory.
8. the term of control of a territory by foreign military forces:

   Danish resistance during the German occupation.

9. tenure or the holding of an office or official function:

   during his occupation of the vice presidency.

10. the act of going into and taking control of a public or private space, as a park or building, especially as an act of protest:

    The students' week-long occupation of the dean's office brought about a change in the university's curfew policy.

11. the state or condition of living or working in a given place:

    The landlord will not allow occupation of any of his apartments by families with children or pets.

occupation

/ ˌɒkjʊˈpeɪʃən /

noun

1. a person's regular work or profession; job or principal activity
2. any activity on which time is spent by a person
3. the act of occupying or the state of being occupied
4. the control of a country by a foreign military power
5. the period of time that a nation, place, or position is occupied
6. modifier for the use of the occupier of a particular property

   occupation bridge

   occupation road

Other Words From

• occu·pation·less adjective
• occu·pative adjective
• nonoc·cu·pation noun
• reoc·cu·pation noun
• self-occu·pation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of occupation¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English occupacioun, from Middle French occupation, from Latin occupātiōn-, stem of occupātiō “employment, seizure,” from occupāt(us) “seized” (past participle of occupāre “to seize, take hold”; occupy ) + -iō -ion

Synonym Study

Occupation, business, profession, trade refer to the activity to which one regularly devotes oneself, especially one's regular work, or means of getting a living. Occupation is the general word: a pleasant or congenial occupation. Business especially suggests a commercial or mercantile occupation: the printing business. Profession implies an occupation requiring special knowledge and training in some field of science or learning: the profession of teaching. Trade suggests an occupation involving manual training and skill: one of the building trades.

Example Sentences

Huckabee, who denies the existence of a Palestinian identity, has vowed to keep sending weapons to Israel and support their occupation of the West Bank, which he refers to as Judea and Samaria.

From Salon

Instrumental in feminizing the occupation, Beecher argued that pious young women should be the ones to do the moral work of teaching — in no small part because they provided cheap labor.

From Los Angeles Times

The former advisers argued Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting its territory back from Russian occupation, but that it should negotiate based on current front lines.

From BBC

The memory of decades of Soviet occupation is still fresh in the Baltics.

From BBC

Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting all of its territory back from Russian occupation, the paper said, but it should negotiate based on current front lines.

From BBC

Related Words

• attack
• conquest
• invasion