Origin: 1250–1300;Middle Englishoccupacioun < Middle Frenchoccupation < Latinoccupātiōn- (stem of occupātiō), equivalent to occupāt(us) (past participle of occupāre; see occupy) + -iōn--ion
Related forms
oc·cu·pa·tion·less, adjective
oc·cu·pa·tive, adjective
non·oc·cu·pa·tion, noun
re·oc·cu·pa·tion, noun
self-oc·cu·pa·tion, noun
Synonyms 1. employment, pursuit, craft, métier. 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.3. occupancy.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
mid-14c., "a being employed in something," also "a particular action," from O.Fr. occupacion (12c.), from L. occupationem (nom. occupatio) "a taking possession, business, employment," from occupatus, pp. of from occupare (see occupy). Meaning "trade" is from 1520s.