business

modif.

business

n.

1. Industry and trade

   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

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

3. One's proper concerns

   affair, concern, interest; see affair 1.

4. A commercial enterprise

   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

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

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

do business with

get the business*

give the business*

mean business