bustling
Americanadjective
-
moving or acting with a great show of energy.
I watched her preparing lunch in the kitchen—a compact, bustling woman of around forty with her hair in a tight bun.
-
abounding or teeming with people or activities that create an atmosphere of energy.
This midwestern city is a bustling hub for business, education, recreation, and government.
noun
Other Word Forms
- bustlingly adverb
- unbustling adjective
Etymology
Origin of bustling
First recorded in 1425–75; bustl(e) 1 ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses; bustl(e) 1 ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. ) for the noun sense
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The tap of ice on the window was the only sound for a whole seven seconds before Grandma came bustling into my room.
From Literature
So it wasn't long before he found himself back in the kitchen, cooking up a storm across London with his sold-out supper clubs, bustling pop-up cafes, and crowded lunchtime falafel bars.
From Barron's
SACRAMENTO—Inside an exam room at this bustling Planned Parenthood center, a clinician prepared six syringes.
The attacks are accepted as part of daily life for the city of around one million people, dotted with ornate 19th-century architecture and where luxury cars pass mobile air defence units along the bustling seaside.
From Barron's
In the 19th and 20th centuries, it helped the city become a bustling metropolis, home to sizable European diasporas and a distinct cosmopolitan culture.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
