Synonyms for busy
ˈbɪz ibusy

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. busy

   Active refers to both quickness and constancy of action; in the former sense it is allied with agile, alert, brisk, etc.; in the latter, with busy, diligent, industrious. The active love employment, the busy are actually employed, the diligent and the industrious are habitually busy. The restless are active from inability to keep quiet; their activity may be without purpose, or out of all proportion to the purpose contemplated. The officious are undesirably active in the affairs of others. Compare ALERT; ALIVE; MEDDLESOME.

   Synonyms:
   active, agile, alert, brisk, bustling, diligent, energetic, expeditious, industrious, lively, mobile, nimble, officious, prompt, quick, ready, restless, sprightly, spry, supple, vigorous, wide awake

   Antonyms:
   dull, heavy, idle, inactive, indolent, inert, lazy, quiescent, quiet, slow, sluggish, stupid

   Preposition:
   Active in work, in a cause; for an object, as for justice; with persons or instrumentalities; about something, as about other people's business.

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. busy

   Synonyms:
   industrious, diligent, assiduous, engaged, occupied

   Antonyms:
   idle, slothful, lazy, indolent, unoccupied

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:3.3 / 3 votes

1. busyadjective

   actively or fully engaged or occupied

   "busy with her work"; "a busy man"; "too busy to eat lunch"

   Synonyms:
   in use(p), busybodied, meddling, meddlesome, interfering, engaged, officious, fussy

   Antonyms:
   not intrusive, bone-idle, unoccupied, faineant, slothful, unintrusive, bone-lazy, lazy, work-shy, otiose, inactive, idle, unengaged, leisured, plain, lackadaisical, indolent

2. busy, fussyadjective

   overcrowded or cluttered with detail

   "a busy painting"; "a fussy design"

   Synonyms:
   engaged, busybodied, particular, meddlesome, picky, in use(p), interfering, meddling, finical, cross, bad-tempered, grumpy, grouchy, crabby, crabbed, finicky, fussy, officious, ill-tempered

   Antonyms:
   lazy, plain, not intrusive, lackadaisical, idle, indolent, work-shy, slothful, leisured, unoccupied, bone-idle, bone-lazy, unengaged, faineant, otiose, unintrusive, inactive

3. interfering, meddlesome, meddling, officious, busy, busybodiedadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   interfering, busybodied, meddling, meddlesome, fussy, engaged, officious, in use(p)

   Antonyms:
   work-shy, not intrusive, unoccupied, otiose, slothful, lackadaisical, lazy, faineant, bone-idle, idle, plain, indolent, unengaged, leisured, unintrusive, bone-lazy, inactive

4. busyadjective

   crowded with or characterized by much activity

   "a very busy week"; "a busy life"; "a busy street"; "a busy seaport"

   Synonyms:
   in use(p), busybodied, meddling, meddlesome, interfering, engaged, officious, fussy

   Antonyms:
   not intrusive, lackadaisical, leisured, lazy, faineant, slothful, inactive, work-shy, idle, unintrusive, plain, bone-idle, unoccupied, bone-lazy, unengaged, indolent, otiose

5. busy, engaged, in use(p)verb

   (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"

   Antonyms:
   slothful, idle, unoccupied, work-shy, plain, inactive, not intrusive, unengaged, otiose, lackadaisical, bone-idle, indolent, faineant, lazy, bone-lazy, unintrusive, leisured

6. busy, occupyverb

   keep busy with

   "She busies herself with her butterfly collection"

   Synonyms:
   take, invade, reside, occupy, engage, lodge in, concern, worry, use up, engross, interest, fill, absorb

   Antonyms:
   plain, otiose, indolent, unengaged, faineant, slothful, idle, work-shy, bone-idle, unintrusive, bone-lazy, inactive, unoccupied, lazy, leisured, lackadaisical, not intrusive

Matched Categories

1. • Work

Editors ContributionRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. non-availability

   free is an antonym of non-availability, so busy will be a synonym for non-availability.

   Submitted by anonymous on August 16, 2020  

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. busyadjective

   Synonyms:
   diligent, assiduous, industrious, sedulous, notable, active, working, hard-working, at work; diligently employed, engaged, or occupied

2. busyadjective

   Synonyms:
   brisk, stirring, bustling, nimble, agile, SPRY, constantly in motion

3. busyadjective

   Synonyms:
   meddling, officious, importunate

4. busyverb

   Synonyms:
   occupy, employ, make busy

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:1.5 / 2 votes

1. busyadjective

   Synonyms:
   occupied, engaged, employed, engrossed, diligent, industrious, sedulous, active, intrusive, officious, meddlesome

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "busy":

   occupied, crowded, heavy, peak, overcrowded, congested, congestion

NicknamesRate these nicknames:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of known nicknames for "Busy":

   Sascha Bühren

Suggested Resources

1. BUSY

   What does BUSY stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the BUSY acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

How to pronounce busy?

How to say busy in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use busy in a sentence?

1. Leslie Mann:

   She said it was very sexy and that I'd be totally right for it. Who knows, I'm very busy with lots of other projects, so who knows whether I'll be doing that role.

2. Laurence Tribe:

   Or, if Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe decides, ‘ I ’m simply not going to protect United States from foreign attack. I ’m busy making money. ’.

3. Alex Drummond:

   I can't get away from food and I love to eat. Of course, it crept up on me through the years especially during covid so starting in January I decided to get busy and lose some weight.

4. Megan McArdle:

   …the mainstream have been so busy denouncing ‘fake news’ that we failed to notice we’re developing a wee disinformation problem of our own — much of which has stemmed, ironically, from our efforts to fight disinformation on the right.

5. Ahmed Yehia:

   Right now, I am wearing a mask and gloves, but in a couple of hours -- like every day -- I will get too busy or get tired and will throw them away, we are all crammed in one place. There is no way we can have social distancing.