Synonyms for occupy
- attend
- employ
- fill
- involve
- take up
- absorb
- amuse
- busy
- divert
- engage
- engross
- entertain
- immerse
- interest
- monopolize
- preoccupy
- soak
- utilize
- be active with
- be concerned with
- hold attention
- keep busy
- tie up
Antonyms for occupy
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR OCCUPY
He decided, too, that he could think better with something mechanical to occupy his hands.
He tried to recall some forgotten detail of the business that might serve to occupy him.
If this were not so, we should not occupy our present position in the world.
So brief a time did all this occupy that Maulo, looking back, saw them.
I had many things to occupy my mind, besides my regular tasks.
There was absolutely nothing he could discover to occupy his mind.
It was permitted them to occupy a bench outside the station.
But, beyond this, Hetty did not occupy her thoughts with Dr. Eben.
And so he began to visit Rome in order to occupy his leisure.
They are not to occupy us in our dealings with our brethren.
WORD 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.
Related: Occupied; occupying.