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n. 1. The activity of buying and selling commodities, products, or services: new systems now being used in business. 2. The amount or volume of this activity: Business was off all day. 3. a. The variety of this activity in which a person is engaged: the wholesale food business. b. A specific occupation or pursuit: the best designer in the business. 4. A commercial enterprise or establishment: bought his uncle's construction business. 5. Commercial dealings; patronage: took her business to a trustworthy salesperson. 6. a. One's rightful or proper concern or interest: "The business of America is business" (Calvin Coolidge). b. Something involving one personally: It's none of my business. 7. Serious work or endeavor: got right down to business. 8. An affair or matter: "We will proceed no further in this business" (Shakespeare). 9. An incidental action performed by an actor on the stage to fill a pause between lines or to provide interesting detail. 10. Informal Strong verbal criticism; scolding: gave me the business for being late. 11. Informal Urination or defecation: The dog did its business on the lawn. 12. Obsolete The condition of being busy. Synonyms: business, industry, commerce, trade, traffic These nouns apply to forms of activity that have the objective of supplying products or services for a fee. Business pertains broadly to commercial, financial, and industrial activity, and more narrowly to specific fields or firms engaging in this activity: a company that does business over the internet; went into the software consulting business; owns a dry-cleaning business. Industry entails the production and manufacture of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale: the computer industry. Commerce and trade refer to the exchange and distribution of goods or commodities: laws regulating interstate commerce; involved in the domestic fur trade. Traffic pertains in particular to businesses engaged in the transportation of goods or passengers: renovated the docks to attract shipping traffic. The word may also suggest illegal trade: discovered a brisk traffic in stolen goods. |
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