Idiom
busy work
Meaning
Work or activity performed with the intention or result of occupying time, and not necessarily to accomplish something productive; routine work of low priority undertaken for the sake of avoiding idleness.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“My teacher gives us busy work to keep us quiet.”
“I finished my main project early, so my boss gave me some busy work to fill the afternoon.”
“The committee spent hours on meaningless busy work, effectively delaying the important decision until the following month.”
Examples
simple
“My teacher gives us busy work to keep us quiet.”
contextual
“I finished my main project early, so my boss gave me some busy work to fill the afternoon.”
complex
“The committee spent hours on meaningless busy work, effectively delaying the important decision until the following month.”
Key words
Related idioms
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