busy
Adjective:
- Actively engaged in work or an activity; occupied: Describes a person who is involved in a task or has many things to do.
- Full of activity or work: Describes a period of time, a place, or a life characterized by much happening.
- (Of a telephone line) In use; unavailable: Describes a communication line that is currently occupied.
- Excessively detailed or ornate: Describes something, like a design, that is overly complex or cluttered.
- Meddlesome; prying: Describes a person who interferes in the affairs of others.
Verb (transitive):
- To keep (oneself or someone) occupied with an activity: To engage in work or a task.
Adjective:
- She is a very busy doctor with a full schedule.
- We had a busy week preparing for the conference.
- The restaurant is always busy on Friday nights.
- I tried to call, but the line was busy.
- The wallpaper has a busy pattern that is hard to look at.
Verb:
- He busied himself in the garden all afternoon.
- The teacher busied the students with a challenging project.
"to be busy doing something": Actively engaged in a specific action.
- She was busy writing her report and didn't hear the phone.
"to be busy with something": Occupied with a particular task or object.
- The children are busy with their homework.
"as busy as a bee": An idiom meaning extremely industrious and active.
- My grandmother is as busy as a bee, always baking or gardening.
Busily (adverb): In a busy manner.
- The staff worked busily to finish before the deadline.
Business (noun): Commercial activity; one's occupation or concern.
- He runs a small business.
Busyness (noun): The state or quality of being busy.
- The busyness of the city can be overwhelming.
- Occupied: Engaged in an activity.
- Active: Characterized by energetic work or participation.
- Engaged: Involved in an activity; (British English) of a telephone line, busy.
- Industrious: Diligent and hard-working.
(Note: "Busy" is not commonly used to form phrasal verbs. Its verbal use is typically followed by a reflexive pronoun and a preposition like "with" or "in.") - Busy oneself with/in: To occupy oneself with a task. - After retiring, he busied himself with volunteer work.
A busy signal: The audible tone indicating a telephone line is in use.
- All I got was a busy signal when I tried to call.
To have one's hands busy/full: To be very busy or have many responsibilities.
- With three young children, she has her hands full.
- (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)
- her line is busy
- receptionists' telephones are always engaged
- the lavatory is in use
- kept getting a busy signal
- crowded with or characterized by much activity
- a very busy week
- a busy life
- a busy street
- a busy seaport
- intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner
- an interfering old woman
- bustling about self-importantly making an officious nuisance of himself
- busy about other people's business
- overcrowded or cluttered with detail
- a busy painting
- a fussy design
- actively or fully engaged or occupied
- busy with her work
- a busy man
- too busy to eat lunch
- keep busy with
- She busies herself with her butterfly collection