Other forms: occupations
Occupation is the control of a country by a foreign army. Under occupation, the occupation lasted four years, occupying forces.
It is a defined status in international law, with obligations on the occupying power set out in the Geneva Conventions. The other main sense is a job: state your occupation, an occupation for life — which is the sense on forms. And it means the state of living in a building: ready for occupation. Note occupational, as in occupational therapy and occupational hazard.
1nounoccupationThe control of a country by a foreign army.
“During the occupation, soldiers patrolled the streets and food was rationed.”
2nounjobA job or profession.
“Please write your name, address and occupation on the form.”
occupation is a taking or holding.
Latin occupatio comes from occupare, to seize — ob- plus capere, to take. All three senses are a taking hold: of a country, of a building, or of somebody's working time.
Proto-Indo-European
*kap- — to seize, grab
Latin
occupātiō
Middle French
occupacion
Middle English
occupacioun
English, today
occupation
Built from
From Middle English occupacioun, borrowed from Middle French occupacion, occupation, from Latin occupātiō, occupātiōnis, from occupo (“occupy, seize”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European kap- (“to seize, grab”). by surface analysis, occupy + -ation.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA