Word.ws English Dictionary

business as usual

Syllables: busi·ness as u·su·al/ˈbɪz.nɪs ˌæz ˈjuː.ʒu.əl//ˈbɪz.nɪs ˌæz ˈjuː.ʒuː.əl/

business as usual phrase: the normal course of an activity, particularly in circumstances that are out of the ordinary.

Phrase

business as usual

  1. (idiomatic) The normal course of an activity, particularly in circumstances that are out of the ordinary.
    • The phase^([sic]) “Business as Usual” ran about the world, and the papers abounded in articles in which going on as though there was no war at all was demonstrated to be the truest form of patriotism. […] “Business as usual during Alterations to the Map of Europe” was the advertisement of one...1916, H. G. Wells, “Onlookers”, in Mr. Britling Sees It Through, New York: Macmillan, Book II, page 214
    • In other words, it is business as usual on the Korean Peninsula. Perhaps, when the atmosphere cools down, an argument can be made for giving North Korea’s leaders some of the assistance they want, if they are willing to make concessions of their own.2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times
  2. (idiomatic) The normal execution of standard functional operations within an organisation, particularly in contrast to a project or program which would introduce change (although that change may itself become business as usual).

Adjective

business as usual (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) That is usual, expected, not extraordinary.
    • This vehicle would be likely to cost about $1,500 more at retail than the business as usual vehicle, which achieves 33 mpg.1995, Advanced automotive technology : visions of a super-efficient family car.
    • According to the ‘business as usual’ school of modern historians, the millennial preoccupations of Glaber and Wulfstan hold no more significance than the jeremiads of the gullible and doom-laden who agonise in every society - the medieval equivalents of believers in UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, and...1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 187

Antonyms of business as usual

Forms of business as usual

alternative formbusiness-as-usual

Origin of business as usual

Popularized by British statesman, soldier and writer Winston Churchill in 1914 as motto in World War I.

Questions about business as usual

What does business as usual mean?
Business as usual means the normal course of an activity, particularly in circumstances that are out of the ordinary.
What part of speech is business as usual?
Business as usual can be a phrase or an adjective.
How do you pronounce business as usual?
Business as usual is pronounced /ˈbɪz.nɪs ˌæz ˈjuː.ʒu.əl/.

Words near business as usual in the dictionary

  1. business analysts
  2. business angel
  3. business angels
  4. business architect
  5. business architects
  6. business as usual
  7. business before pleasure
  8. business boy
  9. business boys
  10. business card
  11. business cards

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: business as usual (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-business as usual.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-business as usual.wav.

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