to mind one's own business
51
3.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
no meterse en los asuntos de los demás
- Travis has never been one to mind his own business.
Examples
-
People should mind their own business, not talk to a lot of people.
Academic text (2012) -
I was minding my own business when my life took the oddest of turns.
-
You tell me that I should mind my own business.
-
Why should he mind his own business?
-
- Would you mind your own business?
-
- Mind your own business.
-
Why can't people mind their own business?
-
Mother smacked me on the back and told me to mind my own business.
Fiction book (1992) -
But don't pick on me while you're here, because I'm just out here minding my own business.
Fiction book (1990) -
It's best to mind one's own business and not get involved in others' personal matters.
Synonyms
35
5.8
Tell someone not to ask about or get involved in other people's lives
To not ask about or get involved in someone's private matters
To focus on your own work and not get involved in other people's work
Antonyms
How Involved
487
3.5
769
3.1
- Formal
107
3.0
- Informal
51
3.7
56
3.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'mind' (attend to/look after) combined with 'one's own' (personal) and 'business' (matters) yields the straightforward idea of attending to one’s own matters rather than others’. This compositional meaning follows normal English patterns and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would generally infer the intended sense.
Etymology
Mind one's own business may come from a simple shop image: in older English mind meant 'to look after', so people were told to mind their own business, their own shop, and not get involved in others' matters. That's why the phrase now means 'stay out of other people's affairs'.