busy

[biz-ee]

adjective

busier, busiest 

1. actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime.

   busy with her work.

   Synonyms: hardworking, assiduous
   Antonyms: indolent

2. not at leisure; otherwise engaged.

   He couldn't see any visitors because he was busy.

   Synonyms: working, occupied
   Antonyms: unoccupied

3. full of or characterized by activity.

   a busy life.

4. (of a telephone line) in use by a party or parties and not immediately accessible.

5. officious; meddlesome; prying.

6. ornate, disparate, or clashing in design or colors; cluttered with small, unharmonious details; fussy.

   The rug is too busy for this room.

verb (used with object)

busied, busying 

1. to keep occupied; make or keep busy.

   In summer, he busied himself keeping the lawn in order.

busy

/ ˈbɪzɪ /

adjective

1. actively or fully engaged; occupied

2. crowded with or characterized by activity

   a busy day

3. (of a room, telephone line, etc) in use; engaged

4. overcrowded with detail

   a busy painting

5. meddlesome; inquisitive; prying

verb

1. (tr) to make or keep (someone, esp oneself) busy; occupy

Other Word Forms

• busyness noun
• nonbusy adjective
• overbusy adjective
• superbusy adjective
• unbusy adjective
• well-busied adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of busy¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English busi, bisi, Old English bysig, bisig; cognate with Middle Low German, Middle Dutch besich, Dutch bezig

Word History and Origins

Origin of busy¹

Old English bisig ; related to Middle Dutch besich , perhaps to Latin festīnāre to hurry

Idioms and Phrases

• get busy

Synonym Study

Busy, diligent, industrious imply active or earnest effort to accomplish something, or a habitual attitude of such earnestness. Busy means actively employed, temporarily or habitually: a busy official. Diligent suggests earnest and constant effort or application, and usually connotes fondness for, or enjoyment of, what one is doing: a diligent student. Industrious often implies a habitual characteristic of steady and zealous application, often with a definite goal: an industrious clerk working for promotion.

Example Sentences

Instead of staying in her room as the days grew shorter, Lotts got busy.

Read more on BBC

A man who murdered a teenage Syrian refugee in a busy town centre street has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years.

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“One’s ignorant about those things or just gets too busy to bother,” he said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Michaels hiked with Kennedy in Los Angeles’ Mandeville Canyon last year but was too busy talking to him about how to combat the nation’s obesity problem to ask why he was wearing jeans, she said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Then there is the speculation around other Silicon Valley billionaires, some of whom appear to have been busy buying up chunks of land with underground spaces, ripe for conversion into multi-million pound luxury bunkers.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• bustling 
• full 
• hectic 
• lively 
• restless