busyness

[biz-ee-nis] /ˈbɪz i nɪs/

noun

the quality or condition of being busy.

lively but meaningless activity.

Origin

1840-50; busy + -ness

Related forms

nonbusyness, noun

Examples from the web for busyness

Indeed the sky's a huge, open relief from all the busyness below, but that cluttered landscape is itself immense.
He needs to cite busyness with his current job and decline the offer.
After a certain threshold rate of busyness, one's energy input yields diminishing returns.
It tells us whether our effort--our busyness--is actually getting us anywhere.
If he doesn't, the modest improvement will dissipate into fall busyness.
busyness got in the way, as did a great desire not to become an obesity statistic.
They revel in being busy and worry sometimes that they carry busyness too far.
Outside the trees seem healthy to me, and the street is filled with human busyness.
And for all its busyness, this comedy has no real focus, ricocheting from character to character with wearying abandon.
Enough of the busyness and ambition, the hothouse summers.

Word Origin and History for busyness

1849, first attested in Thoreau, from busy (adj.) + -ness. A modern formation made necessary after business evolved away from busy.