Meaning & use
industrious person
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Meaning
phrasecountableapprovingformal
Someone who works hard and steadily and gets things done.
Grammar: Use it with 'a' or 'an': 'She is an industrious person.' The adjective 'industrious' can also stand alone: 'an industrious student'.
Patterns
- an industrious person
- be an industrious person
- a very industrious person
My grandmother was an industrious person who never sat still.
He is an industrious person and always finishes his work early.
They hired an industrious person to manage the busy shop.
Common combinations
- a highly industrious person
- She is a highly industrious person and rarely takes a break.
- an industrious worker
- The team needs an industrious worker who can handle several tasks.
- an industrious student
- He was an industrious student and studied every evening.
- quietly industrious
- She is quietly industrious and does not talk about her achievements.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hard-working
- This is the everyday, neutral way to say the same thing and is more common in speech.
- diligent
- Diligent emphasizes careful, thorough effort and is common in formal or academic contexts.
- productive
- Productive focuses on results and output, not on the effort or character of the person.
Opposites
Word family
- industry noun
- Hard work or the habit of working steadily.
- industriously adverb
- In a hard-working, steady way.
- industriousness noun
- The quality of being hard-working.
Commonly confused: industrious person or industrial?
industrious person vs industrial
'Industrial' means relating to factories and manufacturing, while 'industrious' describes a person who works hard.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'industrious' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Industrious' describes a person who works hard, so 'an industrious person' is correct. 'Industrial' would fit the factory sentence, and the other options do not make sense with the word's meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “industrious person”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.