Busyness

• bus·y (bz)
• adj. bus·i·er, bus·i·est
• busi·ly adv.
• busy·ness n.
• busi·ly adv.
• busy·ness n.

Definitions

• 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.

To make busy; occupy: busied myself preparing my tax

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).