English → Latin
“occupy” in Latin
occupōto occupy, fill, take up; to seize, invade, take possession of; to anticipate, make the first movedētineōto hold or keep off or back, detain, check; to delay, hinder, lengthen; occupy, engage, stopteneōto hold, have; to grasp; to possess, occupy, control; to watch, guard, maintain, defend; to retain, keeppossideōto have, hold, own, possess; to possess lands, have possessions; to take control or possession of, seize, occupydistineōto hold or keep apart; divide, separate, split; to divide, split, distract, perplex; to hold off, keep back, hold up; dedistringōto stretch out or apart; to detain; to distract
The English word occupy itself goes back to Latin capiō, through occupō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
occupy
To engage, occupare, occupatum tenere (to engage one’s whole thoughts or attention): detinere (to keep close to a thing, to fix): curae est mihi aliquid, consulo alicui rei (engages my care or attention): to occupy one in various ways, distinere; distringere (to distract): to occupy one’s self in anything, occupari in aliqua re or aliqua re; versari in re or circa aliquid (to give one’s self up completely to a thing): se ponere in re (to lay one’s self out upon a thing): aliquid tractare (to handle): agere (to be chiefly concerned in): dare se rei (to devote one’s self to; to be busily occupied in anything): urgere aliquid (e.g., studia): to occupy one’s self wholly, or exclusively in anything, se totum collocare in re: my mind is entirely occupied with this one contemplation, totus animus in hac una contemplatione derixus est: to be occupied in a thing, occupatum esse in re; intentum esse alicui rei; in manibus est mihi aliquid; vigere in re (e.g., in rerum cognitione, Vid: Cic., Ecl. p. 56).
To take or have possession, habere; tenere; possidere: to occupy with troops, locum obsidere, insidere, occupare (the latter including the idea that one anticipates another in taking the place): locum praesidio firmare, munire; praesidium ponere, collocare, constituere in loco (to garrison a place which one already possesses): to occupy a place firmly with troops, valido occupare praesidio: a place PROP. occupied (with troops), locus tutus (opposed to intutus): to keep a place occupied (with troops), locum praesidio tenere (to hold with a garrison): locum asservare (to keep).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for occupy?
- The usual Latin words for “occupy” are occupō, dētineō, teneō; also possideō, distineō, distringō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.