What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Ready vs Busy - What's the difference?

ready | busy |

As adjectives the difference between ready and busy

is that ready is prepared for immediate action or use while busy is crowded with business or activities; having a great deal going on.

As verbs the difference between ready and busy

is that ready is to make prepared for action while busy is to make somebody busy , to keep busy with, to occupy, to make occupied.

As nouns the difference between ready and busy

is that ready is (slang) ready money; cash while busy is a police officer.

ready

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Prepared for immediate action or use.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:If need be, I am ready to forego / And quit.
  • *(Henry Fielding) (1707-1754)
  • *:Dinner was ready .
  • Inclined; apt to happen.
  • Liable at any moment.
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:My heart is ready to crack.
  • Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind; dexterous; prompt; easy; expert.
  • :
  • *Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • *:whose temper was ready , through surly
  • * (1800-1859)
  • *:ready in devising expedients
  • *
  • *:Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Lexington
  • , title= Keeping the mighty honest , passage=The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.}}
  • Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:the readiest way
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found.
  • Synonyms

    * good to go

    Verb

  • To make prepared for action.
  • Derived terms

    * at the ready * cable ready * camera-ready * make-ready * on the ready * oven-ready * * readiness * ready-made * ready money * ready or not * ready reckoner * ready room * * * ready to hand * ready-to-wear * * rough and ready

    Noun

  • (slang) ready money; cash
  • * Arbuthnot
  • Lord Strut was not flush in ready , either to go to law, or to clear old debts.

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * (l) * (l) * (l) 1000 English basic words

    busy

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Crowded with business or activities; having a great deal going on.
  • a busy street
  • * Shakespeare
  • To-morrow is a busy day.
  • Engaged in another activity or by someone else.
  • The director cannot see you now, he's busy .
    Her telephone has been busy all day.
    She is too busy to have time for riddles.
  • Having a lot going on; complicated or intricate.
  • Flowers, stripes, and checks in the same fabric make for a busy pattern.
  • Officious; meddling.
  • * 1603 , , IV. ii. 130:
  • I will be hanged if some eternal villain, / Some busy and insinuating rogue, / Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, / Have not devised this slander; I'll be hanged else.

    Verb

  • To make somebody busy , to keep busy with, to occupy, to make occupied.
  • * On my vacation I'll busy myself with gardening.
  • To rush somebody.
  • Noun

    (busies)
  • A police officer.