occupy
To live in, fill or take up a space.
occupy in a sentence
- A family of robins came to occupy the old birdhouse, filling it with twigs and feathers.
- Hundreds of books occupy every shelf in Grandpa's tiny study, filling all the space.
Try an 11+ style question
Verbal reasoning papers often ask about a word like this.
Which word is closest in meaning to occupy?
- Aleave
- Bempty
- Cfill
- Dquit
Show the answer
C: fill. The other three mean the opposite of occupy.
Which word is most nearly opposite in meaning to occupy?
- Afill
- Binhabit
- Cleave
- Dhold
Show the answer
C: leave. The other three mean nearly the same as occupy.
Words that mean something similar
fill, hold, inhabit
Words that mean the opposite
leave, empty, quit
More words about places & settings
- odour: A smell, often an unpleasant one.
- outskirts: The outer edges of a town or city, far from the centre.
- peril: The threat of serious danger.
- perilous: Very dangerous.
- picturesque: Pretty enough to be in a painting or on a postcard.
- precarious: Not safe or steady, and likely to fall or fail at any moment.
- quaint: Charming in an old-fashioned way.
- ravine: A deep, narrow valley with steep sides.
More words to explore
Sitting the 11+ in Kent, Medway or Buckinghamshire?
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test