in business
- idiom
- After years of hard work, she is finally in business as the owner of her own café.
- stay in business
- remain in business
- participate in business
They'll want to be in business with you in some way.
- They'll want to be in business with you in some way.
- But when you're in business, that doesn't fucking work.
- To that I say, guys, you've been in business for years.
- Make no mistake about it, guys and gals, you are in business to make money.
- My mantra for three decades in business has been one more.
- But in terms of what we do in business, you know, we own the business together.
- And when you become you're in business, you can be warm.
Examples
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Everyone in business tries to get ahead.
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If you made such a commitment in business, you'd kill yourself to see it through.
Fiction book (1990) -
Can a company make stay in business unless it does these things?
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I want to get this city back in business as soon as possible.
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Well, being in business for yourself has its advantages.
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They'll want to be in business with you in some way.
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Make no mistake about it, guys and gals, you are in business to make money.
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My actual happiest place is in business creation and operations.
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The one key, the one key that unlocks wealth in business is distribution.
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You are both ethical in business and certainly farsighted socially.
Antonyms
How Operational
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'in' marks participation or location and 'business' denotes commercial activity, so 'in business' straightforwardly means engaged in commercial activity. This preposition+noun pattern is common and has clear equivalents across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will likely infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase in business comes from the image of a shop with its door open and the owner standing in the business selling goods. So, it means 'open' and active in trade or work.