MEANING
Full of energetic activity and people moving about.
Use it for
Public energy; daily commerce; arrivals and departuresPopulate the place with activity rather than simply declaring it full.
Words that belong together
- bustling market
- bustling neighborhood
- bustling station
On the page
The bustling market fed office workers as well as local families.
Even before breakfast, the station forecourt was bustling.
They stepped out of the bustling shopping district into an empty side street.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- bustling
Usage notes
Primary category: setting. Suggests purposeful lively movement, usually approving or neutral. Crowded describes numbers; bustling describes what people are doing. Comparative: more bustling; superlative: most bustling. Participial source verb [base, third-person present, past, past participle, -ing]: bustle, bustles, bustled, bustled, bustling. Record these as same-lexeme form aliases, not additional vocabulary entries.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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