occupant
nounUK /ˈɒk.jʊ.pənt/ · US /ˈɑ.kjə.pənt/
Etymology Borrowed from Middle French occupant (present participle of occuper) or Latin occupāns, occupantis (present participle of occupō). By surface analysis, occupy + -ant.
1
A person who occupies an office or a position.
- I cannot say the same of the current occupant of the position
- occupant of the Oval Office
2
A person who occupies a place.
3
A person sitting in a car or other vehicle.
4
The owner or tenant of a property.
- I looked over to the Radley Place, expecting to see its phantom occupant sunning himself in the swing. The swing was empty.1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:
- Synonyms
- occupier
- Derived terms
- nonoccupant, occupance, occupancy, occupantless, preoccupant