occupy
verb
[ ˈɒkjʊpʌɪ ]
• reside or have one's place of business in (a building).
• "the rented flat she occupies in Hampstead"
Similar:
inhabited,
lived-in,
tenanted,
settled,
live in,
inhabit,
be the tenant of,
tenant,
lodge in,
be established/ensconced in,
establish/ensconce oneself in,
take up residence in,
make one's home in,
settle in,
move into,
people,
populate,
settle,
stay in,
reside in,
dwell in,
• fill or preoccupy (the mind).
• "her mind was occupied with alarming questions"
Similar:
engage,
busy,
employ,
distract,
absorb,
engross,
preoccupy,
hold,
hold the attention of,
immerse,
interest,
involve,
entertain,
divert,
amuse,
beguile,
• take control of (a place, especially a country) by military conquest or settlement.
• "Syria was occupied by France under a League of Nations mandate"
Similar:
capture,
seize,
take possession of,
conquer,
invade,
overrun,
take over,
colonize,
garrison,
annex,
dominate,
subjugate,
hegemonize,
hold,
commandeer,
requisition,
Origin:
Middle English: formed irregularly from Old French occuper, from Latin occupare ‘seize’. A now obsolete vulgar sense ‘have sexual relations with’ seems to have led to the general avoidance of the word in the 17th and most of the 18th century.
