industrious

English

Etymology

From Middle French industrieux, from Late Latin industriosus (“diligent, active, industrious”), from Latin industria (“diligence, industry”); see industry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdʌstɹi.əs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

industrious (comparative more industrious, superlative most industrious)

1. Hard-working and persistent.

   She was a very industrious student at school.

   • 1941, Ogden Nash, The Face is Familiar, Garden City Publishing Company, The ant, page 224:

     The ant has made himself illustrious / Through constant industry industrious. / So what? / Would you be calm and placid / If you were full of formic acid?

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:industrious

Antonyms

• lazy

Derived terms

• industriously
• industriousness
• overindustrious
• superindustrious
• unindustrious

Related terms

• industrial
• industry

Translations

hard-working and persistent

Arabic: مُجْتَهِد (ar) (mujtahid) Armenian: աշխատասեր (hy) (ašxataser) Azerbaijani: işgüzar, əməksevər Bashkir: эшсән (eşsən), егәрле (yegərle) Belarusian: працаві́ты (pracavíty), стара́нны (be) (staránny), руплі́вы (ruplívy), пі́льны (pílʹny) Bulgarian: трудолюби́в (bg) (trudoljubív), работли́в (bg) (rabotlív), приле́жен (bg) (priléžen), усъ́рден (bg) (usǎ́rden), стара́телен (bg) (starátelen) Chinese: Mandarin: 刻苦 (zh) (kèkǔ), 耐勞 / 耐劳 (zh) (nàiláo), 努力 (zh) (nǔlì), 勤奮 / 勤奋 (zh) (qínfèn), 勤勞 / 勤劳 (zh) (qínláo), 勤勉 (zh) (qínmiǎn) Czech: pilný (cs) m Danish: arbejdsom, ihærdig, flitig Dutch: ijverig (nl), vlijtig (nl) Esperanto: laborema Finnish: ahkera (fi) French: industrieux (fr), diligent (fr) Georgian: შრომისმოყვარე (šromismoq̇vare), მშრომელი (mšromeli) German: fleißig (de), arbeitsam (de), eifrig (de) Greek: Ancient: φιλόπονος (philóponos), φιλεργός (philergós) Hindi: मेहनती (hi) (mehnatī), कर्मठ (hi) (karmaṭh), कर्मनिष्ठ (hi) (karmaniṣṭh), परिश्रमी (hi) (pariśramī) Ingrian: töökäs Irish: tábhachtach, saothrach Italian: industrioso (it), laborioso (it) Japanese: 勤勉 (ja) (きんべん, kinben) Korean: 부지런하다 (ko) (bujireonhada), 근면하다 (ko) (geunmyeonhada) Kyrgyz: эмгекчил (ky) (emgekcil) Latin: sēdulus, industrius, labōriōsus Latvian: centīgs, cītīgs, uzcītīgs, strādīgs Macedonian: усрден (usrden), трудољубив (trudoljubiv) Manchu: ᡴᡳᠴᡝᠪᡝ (kicebe) Maori: houhere, mamahi, ahuwhenua, pukumahi, ahunui, ringa tōhaunui Persian: تخشا (toxšâ) Polish: pilny (pl) m Portuguese: industrioso, trabalhador (pt), esforçado (pt), laborioso (pt), diligente (pt) Romanian: industrios (ro), harnic (ro), laborios (ro) Russian: приле́жный (ru) m (priléžnyj), усе́рдный (ru) m (usérdnyj), трудолюби́вый (ru) m (trudoljubívyj), работя́щий (ru) m (rabotjáščij) Scottish Gaelic: dèanadach Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: трудољубив, марљив Roman: trudoljubiv, marljiv (sh) Slovak: pilný, pracovitý, usilovný Spanish: aplicado (es), trabajador (es), laborioso (es), empeñoso (es), afanoso (es), industrioso, diligente (es) Swedish: flitig (sv), ihärdig (sv), idog (sv) Tagalog: sipag Turkish: gayretli (tr) Ukrainian: стара́нний (staránnyj), пи́льний (pýlʹnyj), рете́льний (retélʹnyj) Urdu: میہنتی (mehnatī) Vietnamese: chăm chỉ (vi)

Further reading

• “industrious”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “industrious”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “industrious”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.