active

  • (a) tending to become more severe or wider in scope
    • active tuberculosis
  • (s) engaged in or ready for military or naval operations
    • on active duty
    • the platoon is combat-ready
    • review the fighting forces
    combat-ready, fighting,
  • (a) disposed to take action or effectuate change
    • a director who takes an active interest in corporate operations
    • an active antagonism
    • he was active in drawing attention to their grievances
  • (s) taking part in an activity
    • an active member of the club
    • he was politically active
    • the participating organizations
    participating,
  • (a) characterized by energetic activity
    • an active toddler
    • active as a gazelle
    • an active man is a man of action
  • (a) exerting influence or producing a change or effect
    • an active ingredient
  • (a) full of activity or engaged in continuous activity
    • an active seaport
    • an active bond market
    • an active account
  • (s) in operation
    • keep hope alive
    • the tradition was still alive
    • an active tradition
    alive,
  • (a) (of the sun) characterized by an increased occurrence of sunspots and flares and radio emissions
  • (a) expressing that the subject of the sentence has the semantic function of actor: "Hemingway favors active constructions"
  • (a) (used of verbs (e.g. "to run") and participial adjectives (e.g. "running" in "running water')) expressing action rather than a state of being dynamic,
  • (a) (of e.g. volcanos) capable of erupting
  • (a) (of e.g. volcanos) erupting or liable to erupt
    • active volcanos
  • (a) engaged in full-time work
    • active duty
    • though past retirement age he is still active in his profession

Nouns

  • (n) chemical agent capable of activity active agent,
  • (n) the voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is performing the action or causing the happening denoted by the verb
    • "The boy threw the ball" uses the active voice
    active voice,
  • (n) a person who is a participating member of an organization
    • the club issues a list of members, both the actives and the retirees

Synonyms

active agent active voice combat-ready fighting participating alive dynamic

Antonyms

inactive passive passive voice quiet stative extinct dormant

See also

energetic lively live

Words of close approximity

actin
Actias acting action Actium
active agent active air defense active application active birth active citizen active immunity actively active matrix screen activeness active placebo active site active transport active trust active voice activewear