Word.ws English Dictionary

stick to business

stick to business verb: to concentrate on the important matters which are of present concern; to avoid becoming distracted or sidetracked.

Verb

stick to business (third-person singular simple present sticks to business, present participle sticking to business, simple past and past participle stuck to business)

  1. To concentrate on the important matters which are of present concern; to avoid becoming distracted or sidetracked.
    • "[T]here are more failures in the lumber business than in any other I know anything about. Why is it?"
      "Economic waste," put in Merker, who was leaning across the counter.
      "Lack of experience," said Bob. […]
      "No," said Welton, emphasizing his point with his pipe; "it's not sticking to business!...1910, Stewart Edward White, chapter 52, in The Rules of the Game
    • Desert Wind, an Afghan with all the patrician haughtiness of his breed when sticking to business as a show dog and playful as a puppy afterward, became top dog tonight.1967 November 26, John Rendel, “Afghan Captures 32d Best in Show”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 Nov 2020

Examples of stick to business in a sentence

  • It proved not to be a concern. […] "I just told Mike to stick to business.2003 February 23, Tim Dahlberg, “Boxing: Tyson wins in just 49 seconds”, in Independent, retrieved 27 Nov 2020:
  • Clinton sought to stick to business despite what she called political "distractions."2015 April 22, Anne Gearan, “Politics: 5 takeaways from Hillary Clinton’s return to New Hampshire”, in Washington Post, retrieved 27 Nov...

Forms of stick to business

third-person singular presentsticks to business
present participlesticking to business
past participlestuck to business
paststuck to business

Questions about stick to business

What does stick to business mean?
Stick to business means to concentrate on the important matters which are of present concern; to avoid becoming distracted or sidetracked.
How do you use stick to business in a sentence?
It proved not to be a concern. […] "I just told Mike to stick to business.
What part of speech is stick to business?
Stick to business is a verb.
What is the past tense of stick to business?
The past tense of stick to business is stuck to business.

Words near stick to business in the dictionary

  1. stick the knife in
  2. stick the landing
  3. stick time
  4. stick times
  5. stick to
  6. stick to business
  7. stick to one's guns
  8. stick to one's knitting
  9. stick to one's last
  10. stick to one's own knitting
  11. stick to one's post

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stick to business (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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