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Antonyms for occupies

Grammar : Verb
Spell : ok-yuh-pahy
Phonetic Transcription : ˈɒk yəˌpaɪ

Definition of occupies

Origin :
  • mid-14c., "to take possession of," also "to take up space or time, employ (someone)," irregularly borrowed from Old French occuper "occupy (a person or place), hold, seize" (13c.) or directly from Latin occupare "take over, seize, take into possession, possess, occupy," from ob "over" (see ob-) + intensive form of capere "to grasp, seize" (see capable). The final syllable of the English word is difficult to explain, but it is as old as the record; perhaps from a modification made in Anglo-French. During 16c.-17c. a common euphemism for "have sexual intercourse with" (sense attested from early 15c.), which caused it to fall from polite usage.
  • "A captaine? Gods light these villaines wil make the word as odious as the word occupy, which was an excellent good worde before it was il sorted." [Doll Tearsheet in "2 Henry IV"]
  • Related: Occupied; occupying.
  • verb be busy with
  • verb reside; use
  • verb seize, take over
Example sentences :
  • You know that you left me to Flintwinch, and that he occupies your place.'
  • Extract from : « Little Dorrit » by Charles Dickens
  • It is not only Monsieur that occupies himself with Mademoiselle.
  • Extract from : « The Incomplete Amorist » by E. Nesbit
  • Why, they've got the impudence to assert that he occupies a good position in Paris!
  • Extract from : « The Fortune of the Rougons » by Emile Zola
  • Does the soul, then, always bring life to whatever it occupies?
  • Extract from : « Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates » by Plato
  • But in the position she occupies at present you are a dangerous man.
  • Extract from : « The Christian » by Hall Caine
  • This flatters the sick man, and, better still, it occupies his attention.
  • Extract from : « Arthur O'Leary » by Charles James Lever
  • The book only occupies any place in my esteem by reason of your opinion.
  • Extract from : « Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. I (of II) » by Edmund Downey
  • I have a piece of work in hand which occupies me a great deal.
  • Extract from : « Despair's Last Journey » by David Christie Murray
  • To these we can add the English imitation which now occupies us.
  • Extract from : « A Literary History of the English People » by Jean Jules Jusserand
  • As a successful editor, in our land, he occupies this position.
  • Extract from : « My Bondage and My Freedom » by Frederick Douglass

Synonyms for occupies

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019