tied up

Thân thiện

The phone line is tied up with a long call.

Definition

Adjective: 1. Kept occupied or engaged: Used to describe a person who is busy and unavailable, or a resource (like a phone line) that is in use and therefore inaccessible.

Usage

This adjective describes a state of being unavailable due to current involvement in an activity or task. It is commonly used to explain why someone cannot meet, talk, or respond immediately.

Examples

• Person as subject:
  • I'm afraid the manager is tied up in a meeting until 3 PM.
  • She sent a message saying she was tied up with a client and would call back later.
• Resource as subject:
  • The phone line was tied up for over an hour.
  • All the conference rooms are tied up this afternoon.

Advanced Usage

• "to be tied up with [something]": This common construction specifies the cause of the busy state.
  • He's tied up with year-end reports all week.
  • My capital is tied up in the stock market right now.

Variants and Related Words

• Tie up (phrasal verb): The action that leads to the state of being "tied up."
  • That project will tie up most of our staff for a month. (verb)
  • The accident tied up traffic for miles. (verb)

Synonyms

• Busy: Engaged in activity.
• Occupied: In use; being used by someone.
• Unavailable: Not able to be used or contacted.
• Engaged: Involved in an activity; (of a phone line) in use.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Tie up: To engage or occupy completely; to make unavailable.
  • The legal dispute tied up the assets for years.
  • Please don't tie up the printer with a very long document.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. kept occupied or engaged
   • she's tied up at the moment and can't see you
   • the phone was tied up for almost an hour

Từ đồng nghĩa

• tied up