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busyness - 2 dictionary results

bus⋅y⋅ness

  [biz-ee-nis]
Use busyness in a Sentence
–noun
1. the quality or condition of being busy.
2. lively but meaningless activity.
Origin:
1840–50; busy + -ness
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To busyness
bus·y   (bĭz'ē)   
adj.   bus·i·er, bus·i·est
  1. Engaged in activity, as work; occupied.
  2. Sustaining much activity: a busy morning; a busy street.
  3. Meddlesome; prying.
  4. Being in use, as a telephone line.
  5. Cluttered with detail to the point of being distracting: a busy design.
tr.v.   bus·ied, bus·y·ing, bus·ies
To make busy; occupy: busied myself preparing my tax return.

[Middle English bisi, busi, from Old English bysig.]
bus'i·ly adv., bus'y·ness n.
Synonyms: These adjectives suggest active or sustained effort to accomplish something. Busy, the most general, sometimes indicates constant and customary work or activity: a busy lawyer; a busy day.
Industrious implies steady application that is often habitual or the result of a natural inclination: weeds pulled by an industrious gardener.
Diligent suggests constant painstaking effort, often toward the achievement of a specific goal: a diligent detective.
Assiduous emphasizes sustained application: assiduous efforts to learn French.
Sedulous adds to assiduous the sense of persistent, thoroughgoing endeavor: "the sedulous pursuit of legal and moral principles" (Ernest van den Haag).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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