got down to business
Stopped wasting time
Got down to business means began focusing on the serious or important matter at hand, setting aside preliminaries or distractions.
After small talk or delay, someone gets down to business by addressing what actually needs to be done: After a few jokes, the committee got down to business.
The phrase implies a shift from casual to purposeful engagement.
- delegatedAssigned to a subordinate
- tackledEngaged with forcefully
- meetingGathering for discussion
- concentratedGathered or intensified
- prioritizedOrdered by importance
determined · took charge · hit the ground running · scheduled · initiated · addressed · focused · executed · action plan · organized · discussed · committed · resolved · agenda · structured · no-nonsense · cut to the chase · brass tacks
got down to businesswasted time
Hours spent unproductively
procrastinated · dilly-dallied · dawdled · goofed off · stalled
getting, getter, downed, downing, downs, downer, business, businesses, businessman