busy
bus·y (bĭzʹē)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. [Middle English bisi, busi, from Old English bysig.] busʹi·ly adv.busʹy·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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