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Definition of occupation noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

      

    occupation

     noun
    noun
    NAmE//ˌɑkyəˈpeɪʃn//
     
     
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  1. 1[countable] a job or profession Please state your name, age, and occupation below. Thesauruswork
    • employment
    • career
    • profession
    • occupation
    • trade
    These are all words for the work that someone does in return for payment, especially over a long period of time.
    • work the job that someone does, especially in order to earn money:It's very difficult to find work at the moment. He's been out of work for months.
    • employment (somewhat formal) work, especially when it is done to earn money; the state of being employed or the situation in which people have work:The company has employment opportunities right now.
    • career the job or series of jobs that someone has in a particular area of work, usually involving more responsibility as time passes:She had a very distinguished career in medicine.
    • profession a type of job that needs special training or skill, especially one that needs a high level of education:He hopes to enter the medical profession. The profession is all the people who work in a particular profession:the legal profession. The professions is an old-fashioned term for the traditional jobs that need a high level of education and training, such as being a doctor or lawyer.
    • occupation (somewhat formal) a job or profession:Please state your name, age, and occupation.
    • trade a job, especially one that involves working with your hands and requires special training and skills:Carpentry is a highly skilled trade.
    Patterns
    • (a) full-time/part-time work/employment/career/occupation
    • permanent/temporary work/employment
    • (a) well-paid work/employment/profession/occupation
    • (a) low-paid work/employment/occupation
    • to look for/seek/find/have work/employment/a career/an occupation
    • to get/obtain/give somebody/offer somebody/create/generate/provide work/employment
  2. 2[countable] the way in which you spend your time, especially when you are not working Her main occupation seems to be shopping.
  3. 3[uncountable] the act of moving into a country, town, etc. and taking control of it using military force; the period of time during which a country, town, etc. is controlled in this way the Roman occupation of Britain The areas under occupation contained major industrial areas. occupation forces
  4. 4[uncountable] (formal) the act of living in or using a building, room, piece of land, etc. The offices will be ready for occupation in June. The following applies only to tenants in occupation after January 1, 2010. The level of owner occupation (= people owning their homes) has increased rapidly in the last 30 years.
See occupation in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary