Word.ws English Dictionary

business-like

business-like is the alternative form of businesslike.

Meaning of businesslike

Adjective

businesslike (comparative more businesslike, superlative most businesslike)

  1. Methodical and efficient, in a way that would be advantageous to a business or businessperson.
    • The gunners stood by the guns waiting, and the ammunition waggons were at a business-like distance.1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann
  2. Earnest and practical without being distracted or enthusiastic.
    • Then, with a businesslike rigor, he grasped the outstretched palm of Casey DeSantis, Florida’s first lady.2024 November 1, Rebecca Davis O’Brien, “Did Ron DeSantis Shake His Wife’s Hand?”, in The New York Times

Forms of business-like

comparativemore business-like
superlativemost business-like

Questions about business-like

What is business-like the alternative form of?
Business-like is the alternative form of businesslike.

Words near business-like in the dictionary

  1. business-as-usual
  2. business-casual
  3. business-critical
  4. business-friendliness
  5. business-friendly
  6. business-like
  7. business-man
  8. business-men
  9. business-to-business
  10. business-to-business-to-consumer
  11. business-to-consumer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: business-like (page history and authors); businesslike (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “business-like.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/business-like. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.