mean business
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But at Estadio Monterrey in Mexico, Potter's side showed they mean business in this competition after the fun at training from their head coach.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
Drones and anti-drones mean business for a host of defense startups and established players.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
Nearly a week after taking the keys to the battered media company, Ellison and his top executives met with reporters at the Paramount Pictures lot Wednesday to show that they mean business.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2025
Because their 900 workers would stay all year, it would mean "business all year round for the local traders."
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2024
Math was my specialty—you spend enough time at the cash register and you learn to love numbers, because each and every one means dollars and cents, and enough of those mean business is booming.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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.
