Definition of 'business'
Word forms: plural businesses
1. uncountable noun
Business is work relating to the production, buying, and selling of goods or services.
3. countable noun
A business is an organization which produces and sells goods or which provides a service.
4. uncountable noun [oft on NOUN]
Business is work or some other activity that you do as part of your job and not for pleasure.
5. singular noun
6. singular noun
You can use business to refer to something that you are doing or concerning yourself with.
7. uncountable noun
8. uncountable noun [with poss]
If you say that something is your business, you mean that it concerns you personally and that other people have no right to ask questions about it or disagree with it.
9. singular noun
You can use business to refer in a general way to an event, situation, or activity. For example, you can
say something is 'a wretched business' or you can refer to 'this assassination business'.
10. singular noun
You can use business when describing a task that is unpleasant in some way. For example, if you say that doing something is a costly business, you mean that it costs a lot.
[informal]
11. See also big business, show business
12.
See do business
13.
See have no business
14.
See be in business
15.
See be in business
16.
See to mean business
17.
18.
20.
See out of business
21.
See the business
22.
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
business in British English
noun
1.
a trade or profession
2.
an industrial, commercial, or professional operation; purchase and sale of goods and services
the tailoring business
3.
4.
commercial activity; dealings (esp in the phrase do business)
7.
8.
a special task; assignment
12.
a complicated affair; rigmarole
14. Also called: stage business theatre
an incidental action, such as lighting a pipe, performed by an actor for dramatic effect
15.
a group of ferrets
16. euphemistic
defecation (esp in the phrase do one's business)
17. slang
prostitution
18. See like nobody's business
19. See mean business
20. See do the business
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word origin
Old English bisignis solicitude, attentiveness, from bisig busy + -nis -nessWord Frequency
business in American English
noun
1.
one's work, occupation, or profession
2.
a special task, duty, or function
3.
rightful concern or responsibility
no one's business but his own
4.
a matter, affair, activity, etc.
the business of packing for a trip
5.
the buying and selling of commodities and services; commerce; trade
6.
a commercial or industrial establishment; store, factory, etc.
8.
commercial practice or policy
adjective
SYNONYMY NOTE: business, in this comparison, refers generally to the buying and selling of commodities and
services and connotes a profit motive; commerce, trade both refer to the distribution or exchange of commodities, esp. as this involves
their transportation, but commerce generally implies such activity on a large scale between cities, countries, etc.; industry refers chiefly to the large-scale manufacture of commodities10.
of or for business
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word Frequency
business in American English
(ˈbɪznɪs)
noun
1.
an occupation, profession, or trade
His business is poultry farming
2.
the purchase and sale of goods in an attempt to make a profit
3.
a person, partnership, or corporation engaged in commerce, manufacturing, or a service; profit-seeking enterprise or concern
4.
volume of trade; patronage
Most of the store's business comes from local families
5.
a building or site where commercial work is carried on, as a factory, store, or office;
place of work
His business is on the corner of Broadway and Elm Street
7.
something with which a person is rightfully concerned
What they are doing is none of my business
8.
affair; project
We were exasperated by the whole business
10. Also called: piece of business, stage business Theater
a movement or gesture, esp. a minor one, used by an actor to give expressiveness, drama, detail, etc.,
to a scene or to help portray a character
12. See business is business
13. See do one's business
14. See get down to business
15. See give someone the business
16. See have no business
17. See mean business
18. See mind one's own business
adjective
SYNONYMS 1. calling, vocation, employment. See occupation. 2. commerce, trade, traffic. 3. company, firm.USAGE See isn't.19.
of, noting, or pertaining to business, its organization, or its procedures
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Examples of 'business' in a sentence
business
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Quotations
Boldness in business is the first, second, and third thingGnomologia
The business of America is businessAddress to the Society of Newspaper Editors
Dispatch is the soul of business, and nothing contributes more to Dispatch than MethodLetters to His Son
Here's the rule for bargains: `Do other men, for they would do you.' That's the true business preceptMartin Chuzzlewit
The public be damned! I'm working for my stockholders
I'll keep it short and sweet. Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in businessThe Simpsons
business before pleasure
More idioms containing
business
Trends of
business
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In other languages
business
British English: business
/ˈbɪznɪs/ NOUN
Business is work relating to the production, buying, and selling of goods or services.
Looking for a career in business?
- American English: business /ˈbɪznɪs/
- Arabic: أَعْمال تـِجارِيَّة
- Brazilian Portuguese: negócio
- Chinese: 商业
- Croatian: posao
- Czech: podnikání
- Danish: forretninger
- Dutch: bedrijf
- European Spanish: negocio
- Finnish: liiketoiminta
- French: affaires
- German: Handel
- Greek: επιχείρηση
- Italian: imprenditoria
- Japanese: ビジネス
- Korean: 사업
- Norwegian: bedrift
- Polish: biznes
- European Portuguese: negócio
- Romanian: afacere
- Russian: дело
- Latin American Spanish: negocio
- Swedish: affärer ekonomisk verksamhet
- Thai: ธุรกิจ
- Turkish: iş
- Ukrainian: бізнес
- Vietnamese: việc kinh doanh
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Source
Definition of business from the Collins English Dictionary
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