| / English Dictionary |
BUSY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: busied , busier , busiest
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Crowded with or characterized by much activity
Example:
a busy seaport
Classified under:
Similar:
active (full of activity or engaged in continuous activity)
Derivation:
busyness (the state of being or appearing to be actively engaged in an activity)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Actively or fully engaged or occupied
Example:
too busy to eat lunch
Classified under:
Similar:
at work (on the job)
drudging; laboring; labouring; toiling (doing arduous or unpleasant work)
engaged; occupied (having ones attention or mind or energy engaged)
overbusy (too busy)
tied up (kept occupied or engaged)
up to (busy or occupied with)
Also:
diligent (characterized by care and perseverance in carrying out tasks)
employed (having your services engaged for; or having a job especially one that pays wages or a salary)
Antonym:
idle (not in action or at work)
Derivation:
busyness (the state of being or appearing to be actively engaged in an activity)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner
Example:
busy about other people's business
Synonyms:
busy; busybodied; interfering; meddlesome; meddling; officious
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
intrusive (tending to intrude (especially upon privacy))
Sense 4
Meaning:
(of facilities such as telephones or lavatories) unavailable for use by anyone else or indicating unavailability; ('engaged' is a British term for a busy telephone line)
Example:
kept getting a busy signal
Synonyms:
busy; engaged; in use
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
occupied (held or filled or in use)
Derivation:
busyness (the state of being or appearing to be actively engaged in an activity)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Overcrowded or cluttered with detail
Example:
a fussy design
Synonyms:
busy; fussy
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
fancy (not plain; decorative or ornamented)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they busy ... he / she / it busies
Past simple: busied
Past participle: busied
-ing form: busying
Sense 1
Meaning:
Keep busy with
Example:
She busies herself with her butterfly collection
Synonyms:
busy; occupy
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "busy" is one way to...):
work (exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "busy"):
dabble; play around; smatter (work with in an amateurish manner)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Context examples:
But I did not feel the inconvenience of the weather; my imagination was busy in scenes of evil and despair.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
He sank daily, and my mother and I had all the inn upon our hands, and were kept busy enough without paying much regard to our unpleasant guest.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
That's not as loud as traffic on a busy street.
(Noise, NIH: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)
Up and around, but minimal active play; keeps busy with quieter activities.
(Lansky Performance Status 60, NCI Thesaurus)
They were as good and happy, as busy and cheerful as ever two children in the world were, only Snow-white was more quiet and gentle than Rose-red.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Potts added that the shorter time of onset for the VCD compared to that of lidocaine could be a distinct advantage in a busy emergency department setting.
(Better IV Insertion Device, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Before Curiosity began further investigating the high-silica area, it was busy scrutinizing the geological contact zone near Marias Pass, where a pale mudstone meets darker sandstone.
(Curiosity Rover Inspects Unusual Bedrock, NASA)
The researchers obtained vehicle exhaust from a busy street in downtown Toronto and concentrated the fine particles before delivering them through an oxygen-type mask.
(Combatting epigenetic effects from outdoor air pollution, NIH)
I can remember her all through her beautiful life for she was but a girl when she married, and little more when I can first recall her busy fingers and her gentle voice.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The senseless body was thrown across the spare horse, the four sprang to their saddles, and away they thundered with loose reins and busy spurs through the swarming camp.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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