bustle
verb · noun
Simple meaning
An excited activity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
buhsuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbʌsəl
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.
verb
Move or cause to move energetically or busily
“The cheerleaders bustled about excitingly before their performance.”
To move busily and energetically with fussiness (often followed by about).
To teem or abound (usually followed by with); to exhibit an energetic and active abundance (of a thing).
transitive
To push around, to importune.
noun
countableuncountable
An excited activity; a stir.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Move or cause to move energetically or busily
Used this way, bustle is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The cheerleaders bustled about excitingly before their performance.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “bustle about …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Nearby words
- bustle about , rarer, so it draws attention
Natural pattern: bustle about …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use bustle
- “The cheerleaders bustled about excitingly before their performance.”verb
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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.
Move or cause to move energetically or busily.
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.