occupation
Americannoun
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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
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any activity in which a person is engaged.
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possession, settlement, or use of land or property.
- Synonyms:
- occupancy
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the act of occupying, possessing, or settling.
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the state of being occupied, taken over, or settled.
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the state of being busy.
His constant occupation with his writing has cut severely into his social life.
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the seizure and control of an area by military forces, especially foreign territory.
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the term of control of a territory by foreign military forces.
Danish resistance during the German occupation.
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tenure or the holding of an office or official function.
during his occupation of the vice presidency.
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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.
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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.
noun
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a person's regular work or profession; job or principal activity
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any activity on which time is spent by a person
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the act of occupying or the state of being occupied
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the control of a country by a foreign military power
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the period of time that a nation, place, or position is occupied
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(modifier) for the use of the occupier of a particular property
occupation road
occupation bridge
Related Words
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.
Other Word Forms
- nonoccupation noun
- occupationless adjective
- occupative adjective
- reoccupation noun
- self-occupation noun
Etymology
Origin of occupation
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
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.
Thomas Kerr, an accountant in Cleveland, said he has told friends and professional acquaintances that they should prepare for white-collar jobs to go away, and to find a sense of meaning in potentially new occupations.
Father didn’t like the attention: “It has caused a great deal of trouble and anxiety … it is impossible for us to attend to our daily occupations.”
From Literature
The term intifada came into popular use during the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987.
From BBC
No one worked more vigorously or more publicly to restore the independence of Lithuania and the other two Baltic states after 50 years of foreign occupation.
Data science is an emerging occupation, and the growth since 2018 has been impressive.
From Barron's
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.
