Reoccupy

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To regain possession of a place that was previously vacated or abandoned
2. To restore authority over a region or area that had been left behind or unoccupied
3. To take control of a location once more after it was left empty

Etymology: "Reoccupy" is simply "occupy" with the prefix "re-" meaning "again," so its history is essentially the history of "occupy." That verb comes from Latin "occupare," built from "ob" ("against, toward") and "capere" ("to take"), so its core sense is to seize or take hold of something. English took the base verb from Latin, and the prefix "re-" was then attached to it in English to produce "reoccupy." The prefix itself has an older pedigree. "Re-" descends from the Latin "re-," which traces back to a very ancient form, and it reached English partly through Old French, where the same prefix was common. Its basic job has stayed constant across centuries: to indicate repetition or a return to an earlier state, which is exactly what happens when a force goes back to a place it had abandoned.

Synonyms: reinhabit, resettle, reclaim

Antonyms: abandon, evacuate, vacate