business

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Commercial enterprise

Nouns

1. business, occupation, employment, pursuit; venture (See undertaking); task, work, job, chore, errand, commission, charge, care, assignment; busy work; racket. Slang, bag.

2. (area of one's business) province, function, bailiwick, lookout, department, station, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line, duty; affair, concern, matter, case; walk [of life]; beat, round, range, routine; career, vocation, calling, profession; art, craft, handicraft; trade, commerce, industry, cottage industry; enterprise zone.

3. occupation, place, post, function, capacity, position, office, incumbency, living; situation, berth, employ; service; appointment, engagement; line of business or work, calling, vocation, profession, practice, trade, career; avocation (See amusement). Slang, gig. See activity, exertion.

4. market, marketplace, mart, agora, fair, bazaar; industrial park; store, shop, stall, booth, workshop; office, bureau; [stock] exchange, curb, bourse, rialto, pit, Wall Street, the street; bank; [sunrise or sunset] industry, big business, firm, concern, establishment, house, sole proprietorship, company, concern, limited company, start-up company, growth company, holding company, blind trust, conglomerate, [closed, alien, collapsible, multinational, privately held, public, public service, or nonprofit] corporation, conglomerate, consortium, [co-]partnership, cottage industry; foundation, nonprofit trust, institution; concession; facility, franchise; dot. com.

5. (business terms) charter, articles of incorporation; annual report, prospectus; board of directors, interlocking directorates; annual meeting, proxy fight; corporate veil; home office; pension fund; diversification, merger, takeover, divestiture, spin-off, dissolution, liquidation, golden parachute; capitalization, budgeting, cash flow, market share, bottom line (See accounting).

6.management, middle management; businessperson, -man, or -woman, captain of industry, robber baron, organization man, entrepreneur, intrapreneur, industrialist, tycoon, magnate, mogul; nabob; small-business man; owner, [silent] partner, director, CEO, chief executive officer, president, superintendent, comptroller, treasurer; manager, foreman, supervisor, overseer; merchant, tradesman, store- or shopkeeper, dealer, monger, retailer, dealership; wholesaler, distributor[ship], concession; banker, broker, middleman, buyer, seller, sales agent; bear, bull; financier, speculator; man in the gray flannel suit; white-collar worker; auctioneer. Informal, movers and shakers, player, number cruncher; the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Slang, suit, rainmaker. See sale, purchase, provision, director.

7. employment agency, headhunter. Slang, bodyshop.

Verbs

1. busy or occupy oneself with; undertake, attempt, turn one's hand to; do, carry on, or transact business, keep a shop, ply one's trade; talk shop or turkey; play the market. Informal, hang out one's shingle. See activity, exertion.

2. (have as one's business) serve or act as, do duty as, discharge the duties of, hold office, fill or hold [down] a situation; be engaged in, concern onseself with, have in hand; have on one's hands, bear the burden, have one's hands full. Informal, hold down a job, be into (something).

3. incorporate, go public.

Adjectives — businesslike, orderly, thorough, methodical, efficient, systematic, workaday; professional, vocational; official, functional; authoritative; busy, in hand, afoot; on foot, on the fire; going on, acting; commercial, entrepreneurial.

Phrases — business before pleasure; business goes where it is invited and stays where it is well treated; business is like a car: it will not run by itself except downhill.

Quotations — We used to build civilizations. Now we build shopping malls (Bill Bryson), No nation was ever ruined by trade (Benjamin Franklin), Corporations have no souls, but they can love each other (Henry Demarest Lloyd), The chief business of the American people is business (Calvin Coolidge).

Antonyms, See inactivity, repose.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

Syn. financial, monetary, commercial, trade; see commercial 1 .

n.

1. [Industry and trade]

Syn. commerce, exchange, trade, traffic, barter, industry, venture, commercial enterprise, gainful occupation, buying and selling, negotiation, production and distribution, dealings, affairs, sales, contracts, bargaining, trading, transaction, banking, marketing, merchandising, custom, undertaking, speculation, haggling, market, mercantilism, wholesale and retail, capital and labor, laissez-faire, free enterprise, game*, racket*, wheeling and dealing*.

2. [Occupation]

Syn. trade, profession, vocation; see job 1 , profession 1 , trade 2 .

3. [One's proper concerns]

Syn. affair, concern, interest; see affair 1 .

4. [A commercial enterprise]

Syn. firm, company, factory, manufacturer, mill, store, shop, corporation, concern, combine, establishment, enterprise, partnership, institution, house, outfit, market, conglomerate, consortium, syndicate, cartel, trust, monopoly, holding company, mutual company, pool.

Some large well-known businesses include: Amoco, American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), Boeing Corporation, Chevron, Chrysler Corporation, Coca-Cola, ConAgra, Dow Chemical, Eastman Kodak, Exxon, Ford Motor Company, General Dynamics, General Electric, General Motors, DuPont, International Business Machines (IBM), Microsoft, Union Carbide, International Telephone and Telegraph (IT & T), Mobil Oil, PepsiCo, Philip Morris, Procter & Gamble, Shell Oil, Sony, Texaco, Xerox.

5. [The business cycle]

Syn. market, trade, volume of trade, patronage, upward trend, downward trend; see also sense 1.

• do business with,

Syn. deal with, trade with, patronize, employ; see buy 1 , sell 1 , treat 1 .

• get the business*,

Syn. be mistreated, be abused, be scolded; see endure 2 , suffer 1 .

• give the business*,

Syn. mistreat, bother, victimize, give a tongue-lashing*; see abuse 1 , bother 2 , scold .

• mean business,

Syn. be serious, be in earnest, stress, impress; see emphasize , intend 1 , resolve 1 .

Syn.- business , in this comParison, refers generally to the buying and selling of commodities and services and connotes a profit motive; commerce and trade both refer to the distribution or exchange of commodities, esp. as this involves their transportation, but commerce generally implies such activity on a large scale between cities, countries, etc.; industry refers chiefly to the large-scale manufacture of commodities

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. occupation profession, trade, job, career, vocation, calling, work, livelihood, *racket, pursuit.

2. commerce industry, trade, enterprise, manufacturing, merchandising, buying and selling, mercantilism, marketing. ''The art of extracting money from another man's pocket without resorting to violence.''—Max Amsterdam. ''Riding a bicycle. Either you keep moving or you fall down.''—John Wright.

3. responsibility concern, department, province, affair, duty, interest, subject, matter.

4. firm company, corporation, concern, enterprise, market, store, factory, office, organization, conglomerate, mill.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. Activity pursued as a livelihood: art, calling, career, craft, employment, job, line, metier, occupation, profession, pursuit, trade, vocation, work. Slang: racket. Archaic: employ. See ACTION. 2. Commercial, industrial, or professional activity in general: commerce, industry, trade, trading, traffic. See ACTION. 3. A commercial organization: company, concern, corporation, enterprise, establishment, firm2, house. Informal: outfit. See GROUP. 4. The commercial transactions of customers with a supplier: custom, patronage, trade, traffic. See TRANSACTIONS. 5. Something that concerns or involves one personally: affair, concern, lookout. See RELEVANT. 6. Something to be done, considered, or dealt with: affair, matter, thing. See THING.