bustling
Americanadjective
-
moving or acting with a great show of energy.
I watched her preparing lunch in the kitchen—a compact, bustling woman of around forty with her hair in a tight bun.
-
abounding or teeming with people or activities that create an atmosphere of energy.
This midwestern city is a bustling hub for business, education, recreation, and government.
noun
Other Word Forms
- bustlingly adverb
- unbustling adjective
Etymology
Origin of bustling
First recorded in 1425–75; bustl(e) 1 ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses; bustl(e) 1 ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. ) for the noun sense
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The attacks are accepted as part of daily life for the city of around one million people, dotted with ornate 19th-century architecture and where luxury cars pass mobile air defence units along the bustling seaside.
From Barron's
In the 19th and 20th centuries, it helped the city become a bustling metropolis, home to sizable European diasporas and a distinct cosmopolitan culture.
From Barron's
“He was very hyped up and agitated,” said Chamberlain, a Newport Beach resident who spends half the year in the bustling coastal town in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
From Los Angeles Times
By age 13, Colón had started a band and played at some weddings and in the bustling nightclubs of New York City.
From Los Angeles Times
Slowly but surely, the unremarkable patch of scrubland next to Palmdale’s McAdam Park has been transformed into a bustling construction site swarming with workers and heavy machinery.
From MarketWatch
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
