Occupation
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 An activity or task with which one occupies oneself; usually specifically the productive activity, service, trade, or craft for which one is regularly paid; a job. countable, uncountable
- 2 the act of occupying or taking possession of a building wordnet
- 3 The act, process or state of possessing a place. countable, uncountable
"Last year it was announced that electrification of L.M.R. main lines was to be speeded up and that it would be essential for the engineers to have the longest possible occupation of the lines involved; this would mean some retrenchment of passenger train services."
- 4 the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money wordnet
- 5 The control of a nation or region by a hostile military or paramilitary force. countable, uncountable
"The early years of Norman occupation saw a frenzy of castle building."
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- 6 any activity that occupies a person's attention wordnet
- 7 the control of a country by military forces of a foreign power wordnet
- 8 the period of time during which a place or position or nation is occupied wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"You must take up a regular occupation."
Etymology
From Middle English occupacioun, borrowed from Middle French occupacion, occupation, from Latin occupātiō, occupātiōnis, from occupō (“occupy, seize”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to seize, grab”). By surface analysis, occupy + -ation.
Related phrases
More for "occupation"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.