How to Use busybody in a Sentence

busybody

noun
  • The neighborhood busybody is telling everyone that the couple up the street is getting divorced.
  • Then this busybody guy stepped forward out of nowhere and shook his head sadly at the large dent on the side of my car.
    Kerry Slattery, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2023
  • There isn't much that can get this busybody to do that without complaint.
    Nicola Dall'asen, Allure, 7 Apr. 2022
  • His mother, who stayed home before getting work in a blood lab, was known in the neighborhood as a busybody with a big heart.
    Matthew Van Meter, The New Republic, 17 June 2019
  • Seeing something and saying something, in this day and age, isn't being a busybody.
    Lynn Petrak, chicagotribune.com, 7 June 2017
  • Her maid, Lizzie (who turns out to be a not very bright busybody) sees them arguing and that sets off a chain of events which will lead to disaster in later episodes.
    Outlander Fan, Marie Claire, 24 Dec. 2018
  • For the second half of the show, the busybody conceit is largely jettisoned in favor of the guys doing an ensemble act in a place called the Funky Butt Club.
    Christopher Arnott, courant.com, 3 Feb. 2022
  • Some are being friendly, but a couple of them are busybodies.
    Abigail Van Buren, Twin Cities, 25 Sep. 2019
  • Think of the way Beth Grant has honed the suburban busybody to its sharpest points, or how, with just one sigh, Michael Stuhlbarg serves up the foibles of the intelligentsia on a silver platter.
    Nate Jones, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2020
  • This sort of busybody theater world contained within a few block radius.
    Paige Darrah, New York Times, 9 Dec. 2022
  • Things get proper mannered in this Jane Austen story about a busybody perfecting the art of meddling.
    Deanna Janes, Harper's BAZAAR, 3 Aug. 2017
  • She constantly gets harassed by some busybody aunt or uncle, but our parents are the worst.
    Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2022
  • Pharmacist by trade and busybody by nature, Splichal joined the Changing Footprints team and eventually brought it to the south side.
    Justin L. MacK, The Indianapolis Star, 27 Dec. 2021
  • There's the side-eye from busybody strangers, in disapproval of a coffee order or workout routine (or lack thereof).
    Elissa Strauss, CNN, 8 June 2021
  • The busybody fight to repeal home rule and drag D.C. back to the 1970s hammers on homelessness and crime — both of which Bowser and the city council consistently debate and work to address.
    Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 29 Nov. 2022
  • The evidence about the Omicron variant should be a rebuke to busybody bureaucrats determined to lock down the nation.
    WSJ, 11 Jan. 2022
  • Habte might be considered a busybody in any other context, a meddler too interested in the lives of others.
    Los Angeles Times, 10 Dec. 2021
  • And Hermann Prey, a distinguished veteran, as Beckmesser, the town busybody.
    New York Times, 17 Mar. 2021
  • With the exceptions of Marquez, who plays Clytemnestra like a gathering storm, and Jim Ortlieb, who turns the old servant into an alarmed busybody, the company isn’t up to the challenge.
    Charles McNulty, latimes.com, 8 Sep. 2017
  • The German people have been advised by a joy sucking group of foodstuff busybodies to reduce their sausage consumption to a single wurst.
    David Harsanyi, National Review, 8 June 2023
  • Fans of bargain-bin ’80s horror will find plenty to enjoy: a hair metal soundtrack, girls with feathered bangs, guys in mesh tank tops, studded headbands and a busybody preacher.
    Erik Piepenburg, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2020
  • Don’t wait for your busybody inquisitor to react to your explanation.
    New York Times, 1 June 2018
  • Winnie, based on certain aspects of his voluble mother, is a busybody who wonders about religion, the way things look, and the way the universe turns, without knowing much about herself.
    The New Yorker, 18 May 2017
  • Some will call it a dramedy (a drama with some comedy) as lighter moments include a busybody lady, played by Barbara Lohr, who constantly manages to get in the way.
    Karen Pilarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 16 Apr. 2018
  • There’s Laura, a misunderstood figure who was last seen with the victim; Carla, an aunt in mourning; and Miriam, a neighborhood busybody with a number of secrets of her own.
    Vogue, 29 May 2021
  • That is, until busybody neighbors, and eventually the police, got involved.
    Luke O'Neil, Esquire, 23 May 2017
  • The Australian shepherd is another busybody herding breed that sets itself apart with its people skills and protective nature.
    Erin Berger, Outside Online, 18 Apr. 2013
  • Designer Lauryna Tamošaitytė got tired of running on too few hours of sleep and launched a fun-spirited loungewear line to encourage busybodies to get quality rest.
    Stephan Rabimov, Forbes, 19 Apr. 2023
  • Five singers portrayed the 30 characters, including most of those who appear in Wagner’s original and a few additions, like some rangers and busybodies.
    New York Times, 27 Jan. 2020
  • But the busybody nature common to small towns eventually delivered the information to the city manager.
    Lois Parshley, National Geographic, 1 Sep. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'busybody.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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