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.
After being rocked by explosions, typically bustling Quetta lay quiet on Sunday, with major roads and businesses deserted, and people staying indoors out of fear.
From Barron's
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” casts Minneapolis as progressive and neighborly, a bustling metropolis located between stereotypical Midwestern patriarchal stubbornness and a feminist future.
From Salon
How I wish Father had lived to see this bustling port city.
From Literature
The place was bustling with workers in hard hats and orange-and-yellow construction vests.
From Literature
Medford may have been her home, but Los Angeles was salvation, a bustling city the young woman arrived in the late summer of 1946 just after her birthday.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
