Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use busy in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Busy means crowded with business or activities; having a great deal going on. Example: “Be careful crossing that busy street.”

Examples of busy by meaning

adjectiveCrowded with business or activities; having a great deal going on.

  • Be careful crossing that busy street.
  • With hours to go before their labor contract expired, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts prepared on Monday to go on strike at midnight, halting most activity at some of the busiest U.S. ports.2024 September 30, Peter Eavis, “Counteroffers Exchanged in Effort to Avert U.S. Dock Strike”, in The New York Times, archived from the...

adjectiveEngaged with or preoccupied by an activity or person.

  • The director cannot see you now: he's busy.
  • Her telephone has been busy all day.
  • He is busy with piano practice.

adjectiveHaving much work to do; having much to get done.

  • Finding the time to work out and cook healthy meals is easily pushed to the wayside in our ordinary, busy lives.2015 June 19, Jennifer Cohen, “Always busy? 8 ways to stay fit”, in CNN, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2025

adjectiveHaving a lot going on; complicated or intricate.

  • Flowers, stripes, and checks in the same fabric make for a busy pattern.

verbTo make somebody busy or active; to occupy.

  • On my vacation I'll busy myself with gardening.
  • The work busied me all afternoon.
  • They busied themselves with the tea.2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 114

More sentences with busy

  • I can't talk to her: she is too busy SMSing her friends.From the entry SMS
  • Too busy thinking about my baby, and I ain't got time for nothing else.From the entry baby
  • Several machinists were busy operating the lathes, mills, and drill presses on the shop floor.From the entry mill
  • While I would love to help, I am very busy at the moment.From the entry while
  • I'm too busy to see Mr Smith today. I'll have to put him off.From the entry put off
  • He was too busy exploring to notice his son needed his guidance.From the entry explore
  • The park was an oasis in the middle of the busy city.From the entry oasis
  • The affray in the busy marketplace caused great terror and disorder.From the entry affray
  • The head honcho is hard to reach because they are too busy.From the entry head honcho
  • Until we have a system clearly established, entering more data is just busy work.From the entry busy work
  • His two-seamer has a heavy sink and keeps the infielders busy.From the entry two-seam fastball
  • Wow! Laundry, dishes, and errands, all in one day? You've been a busy beaver.From the entry busy beaver
  • He was busy writing his report in a small library carrel.From the entry carrel
  • The busy orator and mother of two couldn't get around to her unfinished speech.From the entry get around to
  • Traditionally a village smithy was a busy place because the smith's work was so necessary.From the entry smithy
  • The couple were getting busy in the front room when the doorbell rang.From the entry get busy
  • She has three little boys, so she's very busy these days.From the entry little boy
  • In her eyes, there's nothing wrong with a cloud of cannabis smoke on a busy public beach.From the entry in someone's eyes
  • I'll be busy until midafternoon, but you can try my office around 3.From the entry midafternoon
  • He passed up my invitation for dinner, saying he was too busy.From the entry pass up
  • You might've heard what I said had you not been so busy swapping spit with that floozy.From the entry swapping spit
  • A busy shift with no chance to sit down even once. My dogs are barking!From the entry dogs are barking
  • A busy shift with no chance to sit down even once. Boy are my dogs barking!From the entry dogs are barking
  • I've been meaning to visit him for a while, but work has been busy.From the entry mean to
  • After a busy morning in the office, I was glad to head lunchwards.From the entry lunchwards
  • On Sunday I'm busy. I'll see you on Monday.From the entry on
  • The club has a busy calendar this year.From the entry calendar
  • The hotel overlooks a busy shopping plaza.From the entry plaza
  • Can you get that call, please? I'm busy.From the entry get
  • The instructor is busy. Can anyone else help me?From the entry else

Meaning of busy

  1. adjective Crowded with business or activities; having a great deal going on.
  2. adjective Engaged with or preoccupied by an activity or person.
  3. adjective Having much work to do; having much to get done.

Full definition of busy

Questions about busy in a sentence

How do you use busy in a sentence?
Busy is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “Be careful crossing that busy street.”
What is a short sentence with busy?
“Be careful crossing that busy street.”
What does busy mean?
Busy means crowded with business or activities; having a great deal going on.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: busy (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use busy in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/busy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.