Antonyms 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.

   Antonyms:
   dull, heavy, idle, inactive, indolent, inert, lazy, quiescent, quiet, slow, sluggish, stupid

   Synonyms:
   active, agile, alert, brisk, bustling, diligent, energetic, expeditious, industrious, lively, mobile, nimble, officious, prompt, quick, ready, restless, sprightly, spry, supple, vigorous, wide awake

   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

   Antonyms:
   idle, slothful, lazy, indolent, unoccupied

   Synonyms:
   industrious, diligent, assiduous, engaged, occupied

Matched Categories

1. • Work

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:3.3 / 3 votes

1. busyadjective

   actively or fully engaged or occupied

   "busy with her work"; "a busy man"; "too busy to eat lunch"

   Antonyms:
   not intrusive, bone-idle, unoccupied, faineant, slothful, unintrusive, bone-lazy, lazy, work-shy, otiose, inactive, idle, unengaged, leisured, plain, lackadaisical, indolent

   Synonyms:
   in use(p), busybodied, meddling, meddlesome, interfering, engaged, officious, fussy

2. busy, fussyadjective

   overcrowded or cluttered with detail

   "a busy painting"; "a fussy design"

   Antonyms:
   lazy, plain, not intrusive, lackadaisical, idle, indolent, work-shy, slothful, leisured, unoccupied, bone-idle, bone-lazy, unengaged, faineant, otiose, unintrusive, inactive

   Synonyms:
   engaged, busybodied, particular, meddlesome, picky, in use(p), interfering, meddling, finical, cross, bad-tempered, grumpy, grouchy, crabby, crabbed, finicky, fussy, officious, ill-tempered

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"

   Antonyms:
   work-shy, not intrusive, unoccupied, otiose, slothful, lackadaisical, lazy, faineant, bone-idle, idle, plain, indolent, unengaged, leisured, unintrusive, bone-lazy, inactive

   Synonyms:
   interfering, busybodied, meddling, meddlesome, fussy, engaged, officious, in use(p)

4. busyadjective

   crowded with or characterized by much activity

   "a very busy week"; "a busy life"; "a busy street"; "a busy seaport"

   Antonyms:
   not intrusive, lackadaisical, leisured, lazy, faineant, slothful, inactive, work-shy, idle, unintrusive, plain, bone-idle, unoccupied, bone-lazy, unengaged, indolent, otiose

   Synonyms:
   in use(p), busybodied, meddling, meddlesome, interfering, engaged, officious, fussy

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"

   Antonyms:
   plain, otiose, indolent, unengaged, faineant, slothful, idle, work-shy, bone-idle, unintrusive, bone-lazy, inactive, unoccupied, lazy, leisured, lackadaisical, not intrusive

   Synonyms:
   take, invade, reside, occupy, engage, lodge in, concern, worry, use up, engross, interest, fill, absorb

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:1.5 / 2 votes

1. busyadjective

   Synonyms:
   occupied, engaged, employed, engrossed, diligent, industrious, sedulous, active, intrusive, officious, meddlesome

How to use busy in a sentence?

1. Ela Darling:

   It’s not like you can stop being a porn star and be a teacher. And not being busy can lead to bad things.

2. Nadia AhmadNadia Ahmad:

   I don't think I paused to process what had happened on 9/11, because I was too busy responding. I couldn't grieve, because I felt under siege, everything changed suddenly. The ground beneath our feet was shifting. At the same time, there was no way as an Bangladeshi American, Berkeley-educated Muslim woman I would cower in this situation.

3. Jack Glaser:

   But when they're busy doing their job, they're distracted. The biases are still going to be operative and influence them unless you change the practices and the policies, the bottom line is we don't know how to change the biases in a meaningful, lasting way, because they're... the way we think normally and they're based on years of exposure. So in the absence of being able to change them, we need to change the way people make decisions and the way that they act.

4. Geoff Porter:

   The Islamic State in Libya doesn't have comparable revenue streams - no oil sales, no sizeable population to tax and extort, in Libya, there is a superabundance of armed groups. For the most part they are busy fighting each other, but they could potentially be harnessed to eliminate Islamic State.

5. Bill Clinton:

   She was pretty busy those years, i never saw her study a list of my contributors, and I had no idea who was doing business before the State Department.

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