Adjacent Words

Occupant definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

OC'CUPANT, n.
1. He that occupies or takes possession; he that has possession.
2. In law, one that first takes possession of that which has no legal owner. The right of property, either in wild beasts and fowls, or in land belonging to no person, vests in the first occupant. The property in these cases follows the possession.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: someone who lives at a particular place for a prolonged period or who was born there [syn: resident, occupant, occupier] [ant: nonresident]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1596 1. one who acquires title by occupancy 2. one who occupies a particular place; especially resident

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a person who occupies, resides in, or is in a place etc. (both occupants of the car were unhurt). 2 a person holding property, esp. land, in actual possession. 3 a person who establishes a title by taking possession of something previously without an established owner. Derivatives: occupancy n. (pl. -ies). Etymology: F occupant or L occupans -antis (as OCCUPY)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Occupant Oc"cu*pant, n. [L. occupans, p. pr. of occupare: cf. F. occupant. See Occupy.] 1. One who occupies, or takes possession; one who has the actual use or possession, or is in possession, of a thing. Note: This word, in law, sometimes signifies one who takes the first possession of a thing that has no owner. 2. A prostitute. [Obs.] --Marston.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(occupants) 1. The occupants of a building or room are the people who live or work there. Most of the occupants had left before the fire broke out... = occupier N-COUNT 2. You can refer to the people who are in a place such as a room, vehicle, or bed at a particular time as the occupants. The lifeboat capsized, throwing the occupants into the water. N-PLURAL

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n.; (also possessor) (for the time) , occupier, holder, tenant.

Moby Thesaurus

addressee, artist-in-residence, boarder, denizen, dweller, habitant, hirer, homesteader, house detective, householder, incumbent, inhabitant, inhabiter, inmate, inpatient, intern, leaseholder, lessee, live-in maid, liver, locum tenens, lodger, occupier, owner, paying guest, renter, residencer, resident, resident physician, residentiary, resider, roomer, sojourner, squatter, sublessee, subtenant, tenant, tenant at sufferance, tenant for life, underlessee