Busyness

bus·y  (bz)

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.

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[Middle English bisi, busi, from Old English bysig.]

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busi·ly adv.

busy·ness n.

Synonyms: busy, industrious, diligent, assiduous, sedulous
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.

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Busyness of ferrets; ferrets collectively-Bk. of St. Albans, 1486.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

busyness - the state of being or appearing to be actively engaged in an activity; "they manifested all the busyness of a pack of beavers"; "there is a constant hum of military preparation" hum activeness, activity, action - the state of being active; "his sphere of activity"; "he is out of action"