business
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
biznuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɪznəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it
The activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects
The volume of commercial activity
uncountable
Commercial, industrial, or professional activity.
countable
A specific commercial enterprise or establishment.
countable
A person's occupation, work, or trade.
adjective
Professional, businesslike, having concern for good business practice.
Of, to, pertaining to, or used for purposes of conducting trade, commerce, governance, advocacy or other professional purposes.
Supporting business, conducive to the conduct of business.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it
Used this way, business is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use business
- “He's not in my line of business.”noun
- “Government and business could not agree.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it.
Recurring fluctuations in economic activity consisting of recession and recovery and growth and decline.
Data processing in accounting or business management.
A particular instance of buying or selling.
Tax write-off for expenses of doing business.
A division of a business firm.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A person engaged in commercial or industrial business (especially an owner or executive).
The body of individuals who manage businesses.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.