Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

busywork

American  
[biz-ee-wurk] / ˈbɪz iˌwɜrk /

noun

  1. work assigned for the sake of looking or keeping busy.


Etymology

Origin of busywork

First recorded in 1840–50; busy + work


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.

See Examples For:

It’s clear by now that artificial intelligence isn’t just a helpful partner that eliminates busywork and lets us focus on the best parts of our jobs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026

If we kill busywork, we risk forfeiting the epiphanies that sometimes occur while doing easy, repetitive tasks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026

But when you’re occupied by that idle busywork, it’s easy enough to convince yourself it matters.

From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2025

On the education front, instead of consulting books and other arcane text to write papers or prepare for exams, some students are offloading that busywork to ChatGPT.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025

Every task we were assigned was just glorified busywork to keep our hands moving, our bodies occupied, and our minds dead with boredom.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training