Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 2
doing a great deal:
engaged or preoccupied:
Русский
By meaning 1
doing a great deal:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
crowded with business or activities:
engaged or preoccupied:

Examples

5260 sentences

  1. I'm afraid the line is busy.

    На жаль, лінія занята. — deniko

    ruК сожалению, линия занята. — al_ex_an_der

    deIch fürchte, es ist besetzt. — Vortarulo

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. I know that he was busy.

    Я знаю, що він був зайнятий. — deniko

    ruЯ знаю, что он был занят. — marafon

    deIch weiß, dass er beschäftigt war. — al_ex_an_der

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. He was very busy all day.

    Він був дуже зайнятий увесь день. — deniko

    ruОн был очень занят весь день. — marafon

    deEr war den ganzen Tag sehr beschäftigt. — Wolf

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Meaning

5 senses

  1. Crowded with business or activities; having a great deal going on.

    Be careful crossing that busy street.

    beschäftigt, beschäftigt

    занято́йzanjatój, за́нятыйzánjatyj, де́ятельныйdéjatelʹnyj

    за́йнятийzájnjatyj

    crowded with or characterized by much activity

  2. Engaged with or preoccupied by an activity or person.

    The director cannot see you now: he's busy.

    Her telephone has been busy all day.

    besetzt, beschäftigt

    за́нятыйzánjatyj

    за́йнятийzájnjatyj, за́йнятаzájnjata, за́йнятіzájnjati

    actively or fully engaged or occupied

  3. Having a lot going on; complicated or intricate.

    Flowers, stripes, and checks in the same fabric make for a busy pattern.

More meanings 2

  1. Having much work to do; having much to get done.

    Near-synonym: swamped

  2. Officious; meddling.

Origin

From Middle English bisy, busie, from Old English bisiġ (“busy, occupied, diligent”), from

From Middle English bisy, busie, from Old English bisiġ (“busy, occupied, diligent”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisīg (“diligent; zealous; busy”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian biesich (“active, diligent, hard-working, industrious”), Dutch bezig (“busy”), Low German besig (“busy”). The spelling with ⟨u⟩ represents the pronunciation of the West Midland and Southern dialects while the Modern English pronunciation with /ɪ/ is from the dialects of the East Midlands.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

busier, busiest
Comparativebusier Lesson
Superlativebusiest Lesson

regular

Synonyms

11 synonyms
Crowded with business or activities:heavyA1bustlingB2
Having much work to do:swamped
Close in meaning
  • overcrowded or cluttered with detail:fussy
  • intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner:interferingmeddlesomemeddlingofficiousbusybodied
  • (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):engagedin use

Antonyms

1 antonyms
idle

Word family

22 related words
Relatedbusyness
DerivedbusinessA1busilybusy beaverbusy beebusy beltbusy boardbusybodybusy bookbusy boxbusyishbusy loopbusy signalbusy waitbusy workembusyever-busyget busynonbusysemibusysuperbusyunderbusy

Lessons for this word

2 lessons

Collocations

12 patterns
  • been very busy
  • as busy as
  • too busy to
  • busy right now
  • be as busy
  • busy today
  • busy all day
  • be so busy
  • busy to help
  • be busy tomorrow
  • be busy all
  • busy right

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
bustardbusterbustleB2butB1

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

busy — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto