occupant

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: oc=cu=pant

CIDE DICTIONARY

occupant, n. [L. occupans, p. pr. of occupare: cf. F. occupant. See Occupy.].

•  One who occupies, or takes possession; one who has the actual use or possession, or is in possession, of a thing; as, the occupant of the apartment is not at home.  [1913 Webster]

  " This word, in law, sometimes signifies one who takes the first possession of a thing that has no owner."  [1913 Webster]
•  A prostitute.  Marston.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

occupant, 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.

Derivative

occupancy n. (pl. -ies).

Etymology

F occupant or L occupans -antis (as OCCUPY)

THESAURUS

occupant

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

ROGET THESAURUS

occupant

Possessor

N possessor, holder, occupant, occupier, tenant, person in possession, man in possession, renter, lodger, lessee, underlessee, zemindar, ryot, tenant on sufferance, tenant at will, tenant from year to year, tenant for years, tenant for life, owner, proprietor, proprietress, proprietary, impropriator, master, mistress, lord, land holder, land owner, landlord, land lady, slumlord, lord of the manor, lord paramount, heritor, laird, vavasour, landed gentry, mesne lord, planter, cestui-que-trust, beneficiary, mortgagor, grantee, feoffee, releasee, relessee, devisee, legatee, legatary, trustee, holder of the legal estate, mortgagee, right owner, rightful owner, heir presumptive, heir apparent, heiress, inheritor, inheritress, inheritrix, reversioner, remainderman.

Inhabitant

N inhabitant, resident, residentiary, dweller, indweller, addressee, occupier, occupant, householder, lodger, inmate, tenant, incumbent, sojourner, locum tenens, commorant, settler, squatter, backwoodsman, colonist, islander, denizen, citizen, burgher, oppidan, cockney, cit, townsman, burgess, villager, cottager, cottier, cotter, compatriot, backsettler, boarder, hotel keeper, innkeeper, habitant, paying guest, planter, native, indigene, aborigines, autochthones, Englishman, John Bull, newcomer, aboriginal, American, Caledonian, Cambrian, Canadian, Canuck, downeaster, Scot, Scotchman, Hibernian, Irishman, Welshman, Uncle Sam, Yankee, Brother Jonathan, garrison, crew, population, people, colony, settlement, household, mir, indigenous, native, natal, autochthonal, autochthonous, British, English, American, Canadian, Irish, Scotch, Scottish, Welsh, domestic, domiciliated, domiciled, naturalized, vernacular, domesticated, domiciliary, in the occupation of, garrisoned by, occupied by.