Antonyms 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.

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

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

   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

   Antonyms:
   idle, slothful, lazy, indolent, unoccupied

   Synonyms:
   industrious, diligent, assiduous, engaged, occupied

Matched Categories

1. • Work

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:3.3 / 3 votes

1. busyadjective

   actively or fully engaged or occupied

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

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

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

2. busy, fussyadjective

   overcrowded or cluttered with detail

   "a busy painting"; "a fussy design"

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

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

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"

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

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

4. busyadjective

   crowded with or characterized by much activity

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

1. busyadjective

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

How to use busy in a sentence?

1. Chris Hoy:

   It's an honor to be able to do this kind of thing, i hope to do a diary column and also a front cover -- and then in October I have my own exhibition at my old college. It's a busy time for me.

2. Juliette Scwab:

   September was an extremely busy time for both us with work. So, rather than taking a big trip after our wedding, we decided to take a week off and go to Napa and Sonoma in California doing what we love doing : eating, drinking, and just being together.

3. City Manager Joe Dunham:

   I was hoping to keep restaurants open as long as possible just to create a sense of normalcy and not have panic, it's a little bit quieter, the highway still seems pretty busy though.

4. Jared Bernstein:

   The idea here is not just to provide some sort of a near-term stimulus that keeps people busy for months or quarters, it's to fundamentally transform key sectors within our economy that disproportionately employ blue-collar and service workers... in a way that incentivizes not just more jobs, but higher-quality jobs.

5. Frank Chung:

   Even though things can be kind of busy, they've invested in seeing me grow as a physician and that has been a tremendously helpful experience, now that it's in the rearview mirror, I'm just super happy that I got this experience because, you know, I got my feet wet. I now have this whole list of things that I want to review before( the official start of residency).

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