Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Industrious |
IndustriousAdjective1. Characterized by hard work and perseverance. 2. Working hard to promote an enterprise. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "industrious" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
Etymology: Industrious \In*dus"tri*ous\, adjective. [Latin expression industrius, industriosus: compare to the French expression industrieux. See Industry.]. (references) |
Synonyms: IndustriousSynonyms: energetic (adj), gumptious (adj), hardworking (adj), tireless (adj), untiring (adj), up-and-coming (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Activity | Industrious, assiduous, diligent, sedulous, notable, painstaking; intent; (attention); indefatigable; (persevering) a; unwearied; unsleeping, never tired; plodding, hard-working; businesslike, workaday. |
Learning | Adjective: studious; scholastic, scholarly; teachable; docile; (willing); apt; industrious. |
Perseverance | Unintermitting, unremitting; plodding; industrious; strenuous; pertinacious; persisting, persistent. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Industrious |
| English words defined with "industrious": Deedy ♦ endeavor, endeavour, enterprise ♦ industriously ♦ Reading man ♦ Scraffle ♦ To make nothing of ♦ Unless. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "industrious": Arod ♦ democratic leadership, Drinke and Welcome ♦ Flax Spinning, Freeport, Frog ♦ Industry ♦ Quack Medicine ♦ These kind ♦ usage ♦ Yarn. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "industrious": Deedy. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | It's not very industrious of you. I say we go out there and kick a little demon ass (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | An industrious Sioux. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Benjamin Franklin | If we are industrious, we shall never starve; At the workingman's house hunger looks in but dares not enter. |
Horace | Sad people dislike the happy, and the happy the sad; the quick thinking the sedate, and the careless the busy and industrious. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | He gave it to the use of the industrious and rational, (and labour was to be his title to it;) not to the fancy or covetousness of the quarrelsome and contentious. (Second Treatise of Government) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Japan | Japan has an industrious, educated population and a cadre of world-class manufacturers. (references) |
Eritrea | Eritrea has an inexpensive but motivated, industrious, and disciplined workforce, although skilled manpower remains scarce in many fields. (references) | |
Singapore | Singapore's strategic location on major sea lanes and industrious population have given the country an economic importance in Southeast Asia disproportionate to its small size. (references) | |
Political Economy | BELGIUM | The country derives trade advantages from its central geographic location, and a highly skilled, multilingual, and industrious workforce. (references) |
Travel | Romania | Romanian nationals are friendly, industrious people, and foreigners are usually made very welcome. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | USAGE, n. The First Person of the literary Trinity, the Second and Third being Custom and Conventionality. Imbued with a decent reverence for this Holy Triad an industrious writer may hope to produce books that will live as long as the fashion. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
John Adams | 1797-1801 | That ambition which is inspired by it makes them sober, industrious, and frugal. |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | If we are prosperous at home and respected abroad, it is because we are free, united, industrious, and obedient to the laws. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Industrious" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.57% of the time. "Industrious" is used about 140 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 98.57% | 138 | 27,024 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.43% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 140 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "industrious": ever-industrious. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
industrious | 12 |
clock industrious | 7 |
industrious software solution | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "industrious"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i zellshëm (diligent, hard, laborious, sedulous, strenuous, studious, unsparing, zealous), i përpjekur (sedulous), punëtor (employable, hand, hardworking, laborer, laboring, labourer, labouring, machine-minder, man, toiler, worker, working, workman). (various references) | |
Arabic | كادح (drudging, labor, laborer, laborious, labour, labourer, plodder, slogger), مجتهد (assiduous, diligent, hard working, painstaking, thorough), مجد (adoration, assiduous, canonize, celebrate, celebrity, diligent, enthrone, eulogize, exalt, extol, fame, glorify, glory, kudos, laborious, laud, laurels, luster, lustre, magnify, popularity, praise highly), عامل (active, agent, cooperative, employee, engine, fillip, hand, ingredient, laborer, labourer, process, use, working, workman). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | усърден (assiduous, diligent, hard, mettled, mettlesome, painstaking, patient, sedulous, strenuous, studious, thorough, warm), трудолюбив (hardworking, laborious, plodding), прилежен (assiduous, diligent, sedulous, steady, studious). (various references) | |
Chinese | 辛勤 (hardworking). (various references) | |
Czech | pracovitý (diligent, hardworking), pilný (assiduous, diligent, sedulous, studious, urgent). (various references) | |
Danish | flittig (diligent, hardworking). (various references) | |
Dutch | naarstig (diligent, hardworking). (various references) | |
Esperanto | diligenta (diligent, hardworking). (various references) | |
Faeroese | hugagóður (diligent, hardworking), íðin (diligent, full of zeal, hardworking, zealous). (various references) | |
Farsi | ماهر (Adept, Adroit, Cunning, Deft, Dexterous, Dextrous, Expert, Great, Handy, Jimmy, Natty, Pert, Proficient, Skillful, Slick, Understanding, Workmanlike), کوشا (Diligent, Scrambler, Sedulous, Striver, Studious, Trier), ساعی (Active, Assiduous, Diligent, Laborious, Painstaking, Sedulous, Studious), زبردست (Adept, Adroit, Deft, Dexterous, Dextrous, Proficient). (various references) | |
Finnish | ahkera (busy, diligent, hardworking, hard-working, studious). (various references) | |
French | laborieux, assidu. (various references) | |
German | fleißig (assiduous, diligent, diligently, hard working, hardworking, keen, painstaking, studious, studiously), strebsam (assiduous, diligent, hardworking, striving), emsig (assiduous, bustling, busy, diligent, eager, hardworking, keen, sedulous, zealous, zealously), arbeitsam (active, hard working, hardworking, laborious, plodding). (various references) | |
Greek | φιλόπονοσ (diligent), εργατικόσ (diligent, hard working, proletarian). (various references) | |
Hebrew | חרוץ (active, ambitious, assiduous, diligent, laborious, natty, sedulous). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szorgalmas (assiduous, busy, diligent, hard working, hardworking, hard-working, laborious, sedulous, studious), iparkodó (diligent, sedulous). (various references) | |
Indonesian | rajin (active, diligent), getol (diligent, hardworking). (various references) | |
Italian | industrioso, valente (able, efficient, talented), operoso (active, hard working), laborioso (active, hard working, hardworking, labored, laborious, laboured, toilsome, working), diligente (assiduous, busy, careful, diligent, industriously, sedulous), attivo (active, alive, assets, brisk, busy, hardworking, in action, instrumental, lively, practicing, practising, spry, strenuous, working). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 手まめ (dextrous, diligent, skillful), 手忠実 (dextrous, diligent, skillful), 健気 (brave, courage, gallant, heroic, lovable, manly, praiseworthy, pure). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | けなげ (brave, courage, gallant, heroic, lovable, manly, praiseworthy, pure), てまめ (dextrous, diligent, skillful). (various references) | |
Malay | giat (diligent, hardworking). (various references) | |
Manx | tarroogh (busy, engaged, thrifty), ladoosagh (economic, notable, persevering, successful, thrifty), gressagh (provident). (various references) | |
Norwegian | flittig (diligent). (various references) | |
Papiamen | brio (brave, courage, courageous, diligent, energetic, hardworking, valiant, vigorous). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | industriousay.(various references) | |
Polish | pilny (diligent, hardworking). (various references) | |
Portuguese | aplicado (applied, assiduous, diligent, engineering, hardworking, intent, painstaking, sedulous, studious), diligente (active, convinced, diligent, earnest, hardworking, in action, laborious, painstaking, prompt, sedulous, studious). (various references) | |
Romanian | studios (bookish, diligent, studious), silitor (active, assiduous, diligent, hard working, painstaking, sedulous, strenuous), sârguincios (diligent, painstaking, sedulous), priceput (able, capable, clever, competent, experienced, expert, gumptious, ingenious, knowing, knowingly, old, salted, scientific, skilful, skilled, skillful, versed), muncitor (active, hard working, Jack, journeyman, laborer, laboring, laborious, labourer, labouring, operative, operose, toiler, worker, working, workman), lucrãtor (active, diligent, hand, operative, work, worker, working, workman), harnic (active, busily, busy, diligent, diligently, hard working, hardworking, industriously, light footed, living, operose, sedulous, spry, toilsome), activ (acting, active, actively, afoot, aggressive, agile, alive, assets, bouncing, brisk, busy, dapper, diligent, dynamic, efficient, energetic, fierce, go ahead, living, operative, pragmatic, quick, regular, spry), abil (adroit, apt, artful, artistic, artistical, astute, clean, clever, competent, crafty, cunning, deep, deft, dexterous, fit, handy, knowing, natty, qualified, ready, resourceful, sharp, shifty, skilful, skilfully, skilled, skillful, skillfully, sly, smart, subtle, swift-handed, versatile). (various references) | |
Russian | усердный (assiduous, laborious, sedulous, zealous), трудолюбивый (hardworking, hard-working, plodding). (various references) | |
Scottish | cosanta. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | vredan (diligent, hardworking, valuable, worthy), radan (diligent, painstaking), marljiv (assiduous, diligent, hard, hard working, hardworking, sedulous). (various references) | |
Spanish | industrioso (busy, diligent, industriously). (various references) | |
Swedish | idog, flitig (assiduous, busy, diligent, earnest, frequent, hard working, studious), arbetsam (diligent, hardworking, laborious). (various references) | |
Tagalog | masípag (diligent, hardworking). (various references) | |
Turkish | hamarat (diligent, hard working, sedulous), gayretli (arduous, as keen as mustard, assiduous, diligent, eager, fervent, full of pep, full of vim, hardworking, persevering, sedulous, strenuous, studious, vigorous, zealous), çalixkan (diligent, hardworking), çalışkan (active, arduous, assiduous, diligent, earnest, energetic, full of action, hardworking, labored, laborious, laboured, sedulous, strenuous, studious). (various references) | |
Turkmen | janypkeю (dedicated, hardworking). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | умілий (able, artful, capable, clever, daedal, dedal, efficient, handicraft, neat, neat-handed, practised, proficient, skilful, skillful, workmanlike), навмисний (advised, aforethought, calculated, deliberate, designed, felonious, forethought, intended, intentional, malicious, prepense, purposeful, voluntary, wilful, willful), працьовитий (laborious, plodding). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | siêng năng (assiduous, diligent, laborious), cần cù (diligent, laborious). (various references) | |
Welsh | hywaith (dextrous), gweithgar (hard-working), diwyd (assiduous, diligent). (various references) | |
Yucatec | seeb u meyah (diligent, hardworking), aalkab u man meyah (diligent, hardworking). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | diligens, diligentes, diligenti, diligentia, diligentibus, diligentis, diligentissime, diligentium, diligentius, industria, industriam, industrie, industrios, industrium, industrius, nave, navi, navis. (various references) |
| Avestan | 200-600 | ... vâstryô, -kairya, vâstryât. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | 1 Kings Chapter 11, Verse 28 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai o anqrwpoV ieroboam iscuroV dunamei kai eiden salwmwn to paidarion oti anhr ergwn estin kai katesthsen auton epi taV arseiV oikou iwshf |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Erat autem Hieroboam vir fortis et potens vidensque Salomon adulescentem bonae indolis et industrium constituerat eum praefectum super tributa universae domus Ioseph |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Forsothe Jeroboam was a myyti man, and a strong; and Salomon seynge the yonge waxynge man of good witte, and able to be tauyt, he made hym a prefect vpon the tributis of al the hows of Joseph. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor: and Solomon, seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And Jeroboam was an able and responsible man; and Solomon saw that he was a good worker and made him overseer of all the work given to the sons of Joseph. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | 1 Kings Chapter 11, Verse 28 |
| Cebuano | Ug ang tawo nga si Jeroboam maoy usa ka gamhanang tawo sa kaisug; ug nakita ni Salomon ang batan-ong lalake nga siya manggibuhaton, ug iyang gihatagan siya sa pagbuot sa tanang buhat sa balay ni Jose. |
| Croatian | Taj Jeroboam bijaše valjan èovjek; Salomon opazi kako se mladi èovjek prihvaæa posla i postavi ga nad svom rabotom kuæe Josipove. |
| Danish | Nu var Jeroboam et dygtigt Menneske, og da Salomo så, hvorledes den unge Mand udførte Arbejdet, gav han ham Opsyn med hele Arbejdsstyrken af Josefs Hus. |
| Dutch | En de man Jerobeam was een dapper held. Toen Salomo dezen jongeling zag, dat hij arbeidzaam was, zo stelde hij hem over al den last van het huis van Jozef. |
| Finnish | Ja Jerobeam oli kelpo mies; ja kun Salomo näki, kuinka tämä nuori mies teki työtä, asetti hän hänet kaiken sen pakkotyön valvojaksi, mikä oli Joosefin heimon osalla. |
| French | Jéroboam était fort et vaillant; et Salomon, ayant vu ce jeune homme à l`oeuvre, lui donna la surveillance de tous les gens de corvée de la maison de Joseph. |
| German | Und Jerobeam war ein streitbarer Mann. Und da Salomo sah, daß der Jüngling tüchtig war, setzte er ihn über alle Lastarbeit des Hauses Joseph. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Yerobeam juga bekerja di situ. Ketika Salomo melihat bahwa Yerobeam trampil dan rajin, ia memberikan kepadanya tanggung jawab untuk mengawasi kerja paksa di wilayah suku Manasye dan Efraim. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Adapun Yerobeam itu ia seorang gagah berani, maka apabila dilihat raja Sulaiman akan orang muda itu rajin pada pekerjaannya, diangkat baginda akan dia menjadi kepala atas segala orang bekerja yang dari pada isi rumah Yusuf. |
| Maori | Na he marohirohi a Ieropoama, he toa: a ka kite a Horomona i taua taitama he uaua ki te mahi, na meinga ana ia e ia hei kaitirotiro mo nga mahi katoa a te whare o Hohepa. |
| Norwegian | Nu var Jeroboam en dyktig kar, og da Salomo så at den unge mann var en duelig arbeider, satte han ham til å ha tilsyn med alt det arbeid Josefs hus hadde å utføre. |
| Portuguese | Ora, Jeroboão era homem forte e valente; e vendo Salomão que este mancebo era laborioso, colocou-o sobre toda a carga imposta à casa de José. |
| Rumanian | Ieroboam era tare wi viteaz; wi Solomon, vqzknd pe tknqrul acesta la lucru, i -a dat privigherea peste toyi oamenii de corvoadq din casa lui Iosif. |
| Swedish | Nu var Jerobeam en dugande man; och då Salomo såg att den unge mannen var driftig i sitt arbete, satte han honom över allt det arbete som ålåg Josefs hus. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "industrious": industriously, industriousness, industriousnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Industrious" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: industrios, industrius. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "industrious" (pronounced i'ndu"strēus) |
| 7 | -u" s t r ē u s | illustrious. |
| 5 | -t r ē u s | vitreous. |
| 4 | -r ē u s | curious, deleterious, delirious, denarius, furious, glorious, gregarious, hilarious, imperious, inglorious, injurious, laborious, lugubrious, meritorious, mysterious, nefarious, notorious, pancreas, penurious, precarious, Sartorius, serious, spurious, various, vicarious, victorious. |
| 3 | -ē u s | acrimonious, alias, amphibious, aqueous, bilious, coleus, commodious, contemporaneous, copious, courteous, devious, dubious, envious, erroneous, extraneous, fastidious, felonious, gaseous, harmonious, hideous, homogeneous, igneous, ignominious, impervious, insidious, instantaneous, invidious, lascivious, luxurious, melodious, miscellaneous, nucleus, oblivious, obsequious, obvious, odious, percutaneous, previous, punctilious, radius, sanctimonious, simultaneous, spontaneous, studious, supercilious, tedious, unceremonious. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-i-i-n-o-r-s-s-t-u-u" | |
-3 letters: ironists, sinusoid, sistroid, studious. | |
-4 letters: dinitro, diurons, durions, ironist, nitrids, nitrous, nudists, outruns, outsins, ruinous, runouts, sinuous, sordini, stounds, strouds, studios, suitors, sunsuit, tsouris, untruss, urinous. | |
-5 letters: diuron, donuts, droits, durion, idiots, indris, insist, intros, iodins, nitrid, nitros, nudist, odists, outrun, outsin, rosins, rotund, rounds, rousts, runout, rutins, snorts, snouts, sounds, stound, stours. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-i-i-n-o-r-s-s-t-u-u" | |
+2 letters: industriously. | |
+4 letters: industriousness, superinductions. | |
+5 letters: desulfurizations. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Historic | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Bible Trace | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
