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to mind your own business

to mind your own business

35 5.8
Tell someone not to ask about or get involved in other people's lives
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : ocuparse de los propios asuntos
  • Do me a favor and mind your own business.
  • just mind your own business
  • please mind your own business
  • shut up and mind your own business

I don't say you're the caterer, you're an assistant, mind your own business.

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Examples

  • And mind your own business is something that we typically think about when it comes to scandal, right?

  • I'm calling to tell you to mind your own business.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • So remember, make your money, work hard, mind your own business and work to learn, not for money.

  • It's like everything that mental health tells you not to do, you know, mental health tells you, mind your own business, stay in your lane.

    I've Had It

  • I trust, of course, that you can mind your own business.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Mark: I think you better mind your own business.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • So, with all due respect, mind your own business.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Mind your own business, man.

    He Got Game (1998)

  • Why don't you mind your own business?

    Midnight Run (1988)

  • If you keep asking about my private life, I will tell you to mind your own business.

Synonyms

to stay out of it
vsto mind your own business
56 3.8

To avoid getting involved in an argument or fight

is a broader rebuke about not interfering in any matters not only conflicts
to mind one's own business
vsto mind your own business
  • Informal
51 3.7

Stay out of other people's private matters and focus on your own

is the direct spoken form used as an immediate command
to butt out
vsto mind your own business
  • Informal
25 8.9

To stop getting involved in other people's business

is often said more politely or in a more neutral way
to get out of someone's hair
vsto mind your own business
  • Informal
1 6.3

To stop bothering someone so they can work or think

is about not interfering in others' affairs rather than stopping physical bother
none of your business
vsto mind your own business
  • Informal
5.8

A private matter that does not concern you

is an explicit order aiming to stop interference rather than merely pointing out privacy
none of your beeswax
vsto mind your own business
  • Slang
9.9

A rude phrase to tell someone something is not their business

is the same warning but in a more neutral or standard tone
to stay out of someone's beeswax
vsto mind your own business
  • Slang
9.9

To not ask about or get involved in someone's private matters

is the neutral instruction without the playful informal wording

Antonyms

to interfere
487 3.5

To get involved in a situation and make things not work as they should

How Forceful

where to get off
  • Offensive
1 9.9
to yell at
379 1.4
to tell off
  • Informal
13 4.2
to knock it off
  • Informal
321 8.1
to mind your own business
  • Informal
35 5.8

Surface Forms

mind your own business infinitive

Morphology

mind + your + own + business

The meaning 'don't interfere in matters that do not concern you' follows directly from combining 'mind' (attend to/be careful about) with 'your own business' (your personal matters). This is a straightforward compositional pattern found across many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Mind your own business is like telling someone to mind ('take care of') their business ('personal things') instead of looking at others. So it means 'not to interfere' in other people's affairs.