business

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The world of business is a veritable jungle of cutthroat competition, a school of hard knocks, and a dog-eat-dog world of backbiting, backstabbing, and hatchet jobs.

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Definitions (42)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (14)

  1. noun The occupation, work, or trade in which a person is engaged: the wholesale food business.
  2. noun A specific occupation or pursuit: the best designer in the business.
  3. noun Commercial, industrial, or professional dealings: new systems now being used in business.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (18)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (9)

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Examples

  • My clerk, I at that time employed but one, had done his best, but as my business was a personal one, my presence was necessary to its success. —  The Romance and Tragedy
  • The world of business is a veritable jungle of cutthroat competition, a school of hard knocks, and a dog-eat-dog world of backbiting, backstabbing, and hatchet jobs. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XI No 4
  • The pip-pip! business is actually his natural mode of speech, and for the life of him he can't understand why the other two use it and find it humorous. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VI No 2
  • An office with which I have occasion to do business is at 123 Elm Street, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, and I cannot help feeling that Freddie lurks there, ready to strike down the unwary. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XIX No 2
  • Closely following this glance at the Licensers and their business is a description of the true Author and his business, and of the indignities and discomforts put upon him by the Licensing system: — “When a man writes to the world, he summons up all his reason and deliberation to assist him; he searches, meditates, is industrious, and likely consults and confers with his judicious friends: after all which done he takes himself to be informed in what he writes, as well as any that writ before him. —  The Life of John Milton
 

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Words tagged business

about · account · admire · monopoly · entrepreneurial · b2c · addon · b2b · mittelstand · adobeair · pfandbrief · gangapreneurs

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Business has been looked up 496 times, favorited 0 times, listed 16 times, and commented on 4 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

service ·  trade ·  plan ·  affair ·  life ·  office ·  problem ·  game
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English businesse, from bisi, busy; see busy.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English busines, busynes, bisynes, besines, -nesse, trouble, pains, labor, diligence, busy-ness; from busy + -ness. The notion that this word has any connection with F. besogne, Old French busoigne, work, business, is entirely erroneous.
 

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/ˈbɪznɛs/
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