On many words, Dictionary.com features a section called “Examples From The Web” to put the word in the context of a sentence.
Here’s what they put for the word “occupation”.
That’s right. Not once, but twice, they use the “Israeli Occupation” as a defining example of the word “occupation” in its top 3 examples.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the definition.
occupation
[ok-yuh–pey-shuh n]
noun
1. a person’s usual or principal work or business, especially as a means of earning a living; vocation: Her occupation was dentistry.2. any activity in which a person is engaged.3. possession, settlement, or use of land or property.6. the state of being busy: His constant occupation with his writing has cut severely into his social life.7. the seizure and control of an area by military forces, especially foreign territory.
8. the term of control of a territory by foreign military forces: Danish resistance during the German occupation.9. tenure or the holding of an office or official function: during his occupation of the vice presidency.10. the act of going into and taking control of a public or private space, asa park or building, especially as an act of protest: The students’ week-long occupation of the dean’s office brought about a change in the university’s curfew policy.11. the state or condition of living or working in a given place: The landlord will not allow occupation of any of his apartments by families with children or pets.
It has thoroughly been debunked that Israel cannot be “occupying” anything since no other sovereign nation held the disputed territory. But whatever your views on the subject, it is inappropriate for a service operating as a dictionary to use the Israeli conflict in this way.
