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. Dave Samuhel:

   Unfortunately, in a nutshell, it looks like it’s going to be another busy season, we’re seeing a lot of drought. Almost half of the country is experiencing drought, and the bulk of that is to the West.

2. Polk County:

   So if your bus was running late at Disney, he was busy taking pictures of himself and talking trash to what he thought was a little girl.

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. Astronaut Scott Kelly:

   We checked them to make sure that they were still going to protect us if we needed to use them, we have some kind of on-orbit training that covers the descent procedures, so we're fresh with those. We talked to the specialists on the ground about all operations from the time we close the hatch until the time we get pulled out of the Soyuz. So, it's a pretty busy time. It's important, clearly, when you're coming back from space that we get everything right.

5. Photographer Ken Hermann:

   All the other sellers -- they are so busy, so just convincing them to go near the river to get their portrait done and spend maybe 15 minutes of their time was a challenge, because every minute they're not standing in the flower (market), they lose money.