Meanings
adjectiveindustrious (comparative more industrious, superlative most industrious)
comparative more industrious · superlative most industrious
- Hard-working and persistent.
He was a very industrious student at school.
1 more example
The ant has made himself illustrious / Through constant industry industrious. / So what? / Would you be calm and placid / If you were full of formic acid?
1941, Ogden Nash, The Face is Familiar, Garden City Publishing Company, The ant, page 224Synonyms: assiduous, diligent, dogged, hardworking, notable, sedulous, studious, painstaking
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveHard-working and persistent.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivecharacterized by hard work and perseverance
adjectiveworking hard to promote an enterprise
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinindustria“diligence, industry”
- Late Latinindustriosus“diligent, active, industrious”
- Middle Frenchindustrieux
- Englishindustrious
From Middle French industrieux, from Late Latin industriosus (“diligent, active, industrious”), from Latin industria (“diligence, industry”); see industry.
More words from Middle French, Late Latin, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek φιλόπονος, φιλεργός
- φιλόπονος (philóponos)hard-working and persistent
- φιλεργός (philergós)hard-working and persistent
Arabic مُجْتَهِد
- مُجْتَهِد (mujtahid)hard-working and persistent
Bulgarian трудолюби́в, работли́в
- трудолюби́в (trudoljubív)hard-working and persistent
- работли́в (rabotlív)hard-working and persistent
- приле́жен (priléžen)hard-working and persistent
- усъ́рден (usắrden)hard-working and persistent
- стара́телен (starátelen)hard-working and persistent
Chinese Mandarin 刻苦, 耐勞 /耐劳
- 刻苦 (kèkǔ)hard-working and persistent
- 耐勞 /耐劳 (nàiláo)hard-working and persistent
- 努力 (nǔlì)hard-working and persistent
- 勤奮 /勤奋 (qínfèn)hard-working and persistent
- 勤勞 /勤劳 (qínláo)hard-working and persistent
- 勤勉 (qínmiǎn)hard-working and persistent
Czech pilný
- pilnýhard-working and persistent
Danish arbejdsom, ihærdig
- arbejdsomhard-working and persistent
- ihærdighard-working and persistent
- flittighard-working and persistent
Dutch ijverig, vlijtig
- ijverighard-working and persistent
- vlijtighard-working and persistent
Esperanto laborema
- laboremahard-working and persistent
Finnish ahkera
- ahkerahard-working and persistent
French industrieux, diligent
- industrieuxhard-working and persistent
- diligenthard-working and persistent
German fleißig, arbeitsam
- fleißighard-working and persistent
- arbeitsamhard-working and persistent
- eifrighard-working and persistent
Hindi कर्मठ, कर्मनिष्ठ
- कर्मठ (karmaṭh)hard-working and persistent
- कर्मनिष्ठ (karmaniṣṭh)hard-working and persistent
- परिश्रमी (pariśramī)hard-working and persistent
- उद्योगी (udyogī)hard-working and persistent
- मेहनती (mehnatī)hard-working and persistent
Irish tábhachtach, saothrach
- tábhachtachhard-working and persistent
- saothrachhard-working and persistent
Italian industrioso, laborioso
- industriosohard-working and persistent
- laboriosohard-working and persistent
Japanese 勤勉
- 勤勉 (kinben)hard-working and persistent
Korean 부지런하다, 근면하다
- 부지런하다 (bujireonhada)hard-working and persistent
- 근면하다 (geunmyeonhada)hard-working and persistent
Latin sēdulus, industrius
- sēdulushard-working and persistent
- industriushard-working and persistent
- labōriōsushard-working and persistent
Latvian centīgs, cītīgs
- centīgshard-working and persistent
- cītīgshard-working and persistent
- uzcītīgshard-working and persistent
- strādīgshard-working and persistent
Māori houhere, mamahi
- houherehard-working and persistent
- mamahihard-working and persistent
- ahuwhenuahard-working and persistent
- pukumahihard-working and persistent
- ahunuihard-working and persistent
- ringa tōhaunuihard-working and persistent
Persian تخشا
- تخشا (toxšâ)hard-working and persistent
Polish pilny
- pilnyhard-working and persistent
Portuguese industrioso, trabalhador
- industriosohard-working and persistent
- trabalhadorhard-working and persistent
- esforçadohard-working and persistent
- laboriosohard-working and persistent
- diligentehard-working and persistent
Romanian industrios, harnic
- industrioshard-working and persistent
- harnichard-working and persistent
- laborioshard-working and persistent
Russian приле́жный, усе́рдный
- приле́жный (priléžnyj)hard-working and persistent
- усе́рдный (usérdnyj)hard-working and persistent
- трудолюби́вый (trudoljubívyj)hard-working and persistent
- работя́щий (rabotjáščij)hard-working and persistent
Scottish Gaelic dèanadach
- dèanadachhard-working and persistent
Slovak pilný, pracovitý
- pilnýhard-working and persistent
- pracovitýhard-working and persistent
- usilovnýhard-working and persistent
Spanish aplicado, trabajador
- aplicadohard-working and persistent
- trabajadorhard-working and persistent
- laboriosohard-working and persistent
- empeñosohard-working and persistent
- afanosohard-working and persistent
- industriosohard-working and persistent
- diligentehard-working and persistent
Swedish flitig, ihärdig
- flitighard-working and persistent
- ihärdighard-working and persistent
- idoghard-working and persistent
Tagalog sipag
- sipaghard-working and persistent
Turkish gayretli
- gayretlihard-working and persistent
Ukrainian стара́нний, пи́льний
- стара́нний (staránnyj)hard-working and persistent
- пи́льний (pýlʹnyj)hard-working and persistent
- рете́льний (retélʹnyj)hard-working and persistent
Urdu میہنتی
- میہنتی (mehnatī)hard-working and persistent
Vietnamese chăm chỉ
- chăm chỉhard-working and persistent
Cite this entry
APA
industrious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/industrious
MLA
“industrious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/industrious. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “industrious,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/industrious.
Source: industrious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.