busy work

1. Activity meant to take up time but not actually be productive. For example, We have to put in an eight-hour day, even if we do nothing but busy work. [c. 1840]

Example Sentences

Students can feel that an assignment is busy work or not understand its purpose.

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Anytime you have stuff to do, without just acting, like you’re doing busy work — you’re, like, here’s how you do an appendectomy — and you learn and when you’re picking up the right tools, you’re saying the right stuff, you’re making incisions — that stuff you’ve got to learn.

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“I marked it ‘received,’ and put it in the file,” said Fresno County Registrar of Voters James Kus, adding that he then went about his busy work of conducting the election.

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I support the use of A.I. to improve efficiency, but this sort of review has the opposite effect: The A.I.-generated response does not take into account previous discussions/decisions during the review process and can generate unnecessary busy work.

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Pausing that busy work to take the stage in Iowa, Trump then regaled attendees with a fresh take on how magnets work, while also finding occasion to loop in John Deere.

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