Meaning & use
tied up
Busy or occupied with something, so unable to do anything else, or physically bound with rope or cord.
See it in a sentence
I'm tied up in meetings all afternoon, so let's talk tomorrow.
The prisoner was tied up and left in the back room.
A note on using this word
Tied up is most often used figuratively for being busy, while its literal sense of being physically bound is less common in everyday speech.
Words with a similar meaning
busyoccupied
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
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