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Glite Dictionary
to occupy oneself

to occupy oneself

3 4.1
To keep yourself busy with an activity
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈɑːkjʊpaɪ wʌnˈsɛlf/
translation icon : ocupar(se)
  • I occupied myself by watching the final days of the colony as the ship decoded the last of the damaged data stack.

Examples

  • I guess when you're in the minority like Gleason is, the only choice you have is to occupy yourself with legislation like this.

    Blog text (17)

  • Now that my brother has gone, I must find something with which to occupy myself.

    Their Finest (2017)

  • How do you occupy yourself away from camera?

    The Seven Minutes (1971)

  • Well, occupy yourself with friends or family.

    Superman: Doomsday (2007)

  • I tried to stay home with you as long as I could, but eventually, I had to get out in the world and occupy myself.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • She must have something to occupy herself while we map the deposits.

    Skullduggery (1970)

  • I work full time while I'm traveling, so you'll need to find ways to occupy yourself during those times.

    Blog text (21)

  • And what do you find to occupy yourself with in Lyme, Captain Benwick?

    Persuasion (1995)

  • While there had been a lot that bothered me in psychiatry along the way during my time in grade, I stayed out of the business of the specialty itself, occupying myself with my own work with patients and the literature that pertained.

    Blog text (2)

  • Whenever she wasn't home, I occupied myself with singing and painting.

Synonyms

to engage
vsto occupy oneself
117 3.5

To keep someone's full attention

is about taking part without losing all other focus
to apply oneself to
vsto occupy oneself
41 4.2

To work hard and focus on a task

is about staying active generally rather than intense focus
to engross
vsto occupy oneself
17 5.8

To hold someone's full attention

is similar but can involve less total absorption
to busy
vsto occupy oneself
10 1.0

To keep yourself active by doing something

is to take part in activities to stay active

Antonyms

to rest
816 1.0

To stop activity to relax or sleep and get energy back

to idle
1 3.2

To spend time doing nothing

How Busy

to immerse in
28 4.2
to occupy oneself
3 4.1
to burn time
  • Informal
7.5

Surface Forms

occupy oneself infinitive
occupied oneself past
occupied oneself past participle
occupying oneself present participle
occupies oneself third person singular

Morphology

occupy + oneself

The meaning 'to engage in or keep oneself busy with an activity' is directly and compositionally derived from 'occupy' (to keep someone's mind or time occupied) plus the reflexive 'oneself' indicating the subject performs the action on themselves. This reflexive construction is a common, cross-linguistic pattern and should be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

Occupy oneself comes from the idea of occupy meaning 'to fill or take up', like filling a room with boxes, and oneself meaning 'your own time or attention'. So, to occupy oneself is to fill your time with activities, which is why it means 'to keep busy'.