industrious

[ in-duhs-tree-uhs ]
See synonyms for industrious on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. working energetically and devotedly; hardworking; diligent: an industrious person.

  2. Obsolete. skillful.

Origin of industrious

1
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French industrie “cleverness, skill,” from Old French industrie “contrivance, device,” from Latin industrius “diligent, assiduous”; equivalent to indo-, by-form of in- “in” (see in-2 + -struus, noun derivative of struere “to arrange, devise, build”

synonym study For industrious

1. See busy.

Other words for industrious

Opposites for industrious

Other words from industrious

  • in·dus·tri·ous·ly, adverb
  • in·dus·tri·ous·ness, noun
  • non·in·dus·tri·ous, adjective
  • non·in·dus·tri·ous·ly, adverb
  • su·per·in·dus·tri·ous, adjective
  • su·per·in·dus·tri·ous·ly, adverb
  • un·in·dus·tri·ous, adjective
  • un·in·dus·tri·ous·ly, adverb

Words that may be confused with industrious

Words Nearby industrious

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use industrious in a sentence

  • A good neighbour and a regular church-goer, honest and industrious—let us hope that these qualities will be taken into account.

    The World Before Them | Susanna Moodie
  • An industrious housewife, she hummed the hymns of contentment and peace from morning till evening.

  • There must be something wrong with a social system which permits one idle peer to ruin hundreds of industrious producers.

    God and my Neighbour | Robert Blatchford
  • An offer which Jane received from a very honest, industrious, and thrifty jeweler, aroused anew a mother's maternal solicitude.

  • He complained that he had gone to see a great prince, and had found only an industrious shipwright.

British Dictionary definitions for industrious

industrious

/ (ɪnˈdʌstrɪəs) /


adjective
  1. hard-working, diligent, or assiduous

  2. an obsolete word for skilful

Derived forms of industrious

  • industriously, adverb
  • industriousness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012