Occupies

Occupies is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb occupy. It denotes the action of taking up space, residence, possession, or control, and can be used for physical space, time, or attention.

Common senses include: using or inhabiting a place (for example, a tenant occupies an apartment); taking control or possession of land, premises, or a position (such as an army occupying a city or a person occupying a role); filling a space or time (a meeting occupies most of the afternoon); and engaging attention (a topic occupies his thoughts). In computing, it can describe memory usage (a process occupies 256 MB of RAM).

Etymology and related forms: occupy comes from Latin occupare, via Old French occuper, with cognates in many languages. Related words include occupation (the act or state of occupying), occupant (one who occupies), and occupancy (the extent or duration of occupancy).

In legal and political contexts, occupation can refer to the control or possession of territory, often with specific implications under international law and rules of armed conflict. The nuance varies by context: occupancy may be temporary or contested, and the term can describe both physical presence and formal control.

See also: occupy, occupation, occupant, occupancy.