BUSINESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does business mean? 

• BUSINESS (noun)
  The noun BUSINESS has 9 senses:

1. a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it

2. the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects

3. the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money

4. a rightful concern or responsibility

5. an immediate objective

6. the volume of commercial activity

7. business concerns collectively

8. customers collectively

9. incidental activity performed by an actor for dramatic effect

  Familiarity information: BUSINESS used as a noun is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BUSINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

business; business concern; business organisation; business organization; concern

Context example:

a racially integrated business concern

Hypernyms ("business" is a kind of...):

enterprise (an organization created for business ventures)

Meronyms (members of "business"):

division (an administrative unit in government or business)

Domain category:

business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)

Domain member category:

shipping room (a room where goods are packaged and shipped)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "business"):

agency (a business or organization that provides a particular service, especially the mediation of transactions between two parties)

brokerage (the business of a broker; charges a fee to arrange a contract between two parties)

carrier; common carrier (a person or firm in the business of transporting people or goods or messages)

chain ((business) a number of similar establishments (stores or restaurants or banks or hotels or theaters) under one ownership)

business firm; firm; house (the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments)

dealership; franchise (a business established or operated under an authorization to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a particular area)

maker; manufacturer; manufacturing business (a business engaged in manufacturing some product)

partnership (the members of a business venture created by contract)

processor (a business engaged in processing agricultural products and preparing them for market)

shipbuilder (a business that builds and repairs ships)

underperformer (a business that is less successful than expected)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise

Context example:

computers are now widely used in business

Hypernyms ("business" is a kind of...):

commerce; commercialism; mercantilism (transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services))

Meronyms (parts of "business"):

business activity; commercial activity (activity undertaken as part of a commercial enterprise)

Domain member category:

copartner (a joint partner (as in a business enterprise))

capitalist (a person who invests capital in a business (especially a large business))

business; business concern; business organisation; business organization; concern (a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it)

bankroll; roll (a roll of currency notes (often taken as the resources of a person or business etc.))

doldrums; stagnancy; stagnation (a state of inactivity (in business or art etc))

privatise; privatize (change from governmental to private control or ownership)

intangible ((of especially business assets) not having physical substance or intrinsic productive value)

dull; slow; sluggish ((of business) not active or brisk)

hostile (unsolicited and resisted by the management of the target company (used of attempts to buy or take control of a business))

establishment (a public or private structure (business or governmental or educational) including buildings and equipment for business or residence)

tangible ((of especially business assets) having physical substance and intrinsic monetary value)

overcapitalisation; overcapitalization ((business) too much capitalization (the sale of more stock than the business warrants))

chain ((business) a number of similar establishments (stores or restaurants or banks or hotels or theaters) under one ownership)

operation (the activity of operating something (a machine or business etc.))

business (the volume of commercial activity)

administration; disposal (a method of tending to or managing the affairs of a some group of people (especially the group's business affairs))

gambling den; gambling hell; gambling house; gaming house (a public building in which a variety of games of chance can be played (operated as a business))

astuteness; perspicaciousness; perspicacity; shrewdness (intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings))

celluloid; cinema; film (a medium that disseminates moving pictures)

business people; businesspeople (people who transact business (especially business executives))

business; business sector (business concerns collectively)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "business"):

discount business (the business of selling merchandise at a discount)

venture (a commercial undertaking that risks a loss but promises a profit)

shipping; transport; transportation (the commercial enterprise of moving goods and materials)

building; construction (the commercial activity involved in repairing old structures or constructing new ones)

agribusiness; agriculture; factory farm (a large-scale farming enterprise)

packaging (the business of packing)

printing (the business of producing printed material for sale or distribution)

publication; publishing (the business of issuing printed matter for sale or distribution)

advertising; publicizing (the business of drawing public attention to goods and services)

real-estate business (the business of selling real estate)

employee-owned business; employee-owned enterprise (a commercial enterprise owned by the people who work for it)

field; field of operation; line of business (a particular kind of commercial enterprise)

industry; manufacture (the organized action of making of goods and services for sale)

storage (the commercial enterprise of storing goods and materials)

butchering; butchery (the business of a butcher)

fishing (the occupation of catching fish for a living)

tourism; touristry (the business of providing services to tourists)

finance (the commercial activity of providing funds and capital)

Holonyms ("business" is a part of...):

market; market place; marketplace (the world of commercial activity where goods and services are bought and sold)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The principal activity in your life that you do to earn money

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

business; job; line; line of work; occupation

Context example:

he's not in my line of business

Hypernyms ("business" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "business"):

accountancy; accounting (the occupation of maintaining and auditing records and preparing financial reports for a business)

catering (providing food and services)

photography (the occupation of taking and printing photographs or making movies)

medium; metier (an occupation for which you are especially well suited)

profession (an occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences))

craft; trade (the skilled practice of a practical occupation)

salt mine; treadmill (a job involving drudgery and confinement)

appointment (the job to which you are (or hope to be) appointed)

confectionery (the occupation and skills of a confectioner)

sport (the occupation of athletes who compete for pay)

farming; land (agriculture considered as an occupation or way of life)

biz; game (your occupation or line of work)

calling; career; vocation (the particular occupation for which you are trained)

employment; work (the occupation for which you are paid)

berth; billet; office; place; position; post; situation; spot (a job in an organization)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A rightful concern or responsibility

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

mind your own business

Hypernyms ("business" is a kind of...):

concern; headache; vexation; worry (something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An immediate objective

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

gossip was the main business of the evening

Hypernyms ("business" is a kind of...):

aim; object; objective; target (the goal intended to be attained (and which is believed to be attainable))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "business"):

occasions (something you have to do)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The volume of commercial activity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

show me where the business was today

Hypernyms ("business" is a kind of...):

business activity; commercial activity (activity undertaken as part of a commercial enterprise)

Domain category:

business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "business"):

patronage; trade (the business given to a commercial establishment by its customers)

land-office business (very large and profitable volume of commercial activity)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Business concerns collectively

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

business; business sector

Context example:

Government and business could not agree

Hypernyms ("business" is a kind of...):

sector (a social group that forms part of the society or the economy)

Domain category:

business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)

Domain member category:

incorporate (form a corporation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "business"):

big business (commercial enterprises organized and financed on a scale large enough to influence social and political policies)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Customers collectively

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

business; clientele; patronage

Context example:

they have an upper class clientele

Hypernyms ("business" is a kind of...):

people ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Incidental activity performed by an actor for dramatic effect

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

business; byplay; stage business

Context example:

his business with the cane was hilarious

Hypernyms ("business" is a kind of...):

acting; performing; playacting; playing (the performance of a part or role in a drama)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "business"):

schtick; schtik; shtick; shtik ((Yiddish) a contrived and often used bit of business that a performer uses to steal attention)

 Context examples 

And yet I can’t get out of doing business with him—indeed, he is here at my invitation.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Never mind,” said Holmes, laughing; “it is my business to know things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A collection of my trifling achievements would certainly be incomplete which contained no account of this very singular business.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It's all in the chart-room and they know their way about in it, and it's their business to show the place to strangers who might else get lost.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

This was a disagreeable way of putting the business; because it imposed upon me, a perfect stranger, the unpleasantness of asking Mr. Dolloby to rob his family on my account.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was none of their business.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Jo rather prided herself upon her shopping capabilities, and particularly wished to impress her escort with the neatness and dispatch with which she would accomplish the business.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"Mebbe you'll need that in your business," Henry said.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

When I told her that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, she asked again: "Do you know what day it is?"

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

No shipping masters or beach-combers over here, and he wants yer in his business, and he wants yer bad.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)