Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#ACTIVECategory:English terms derived from Middle English#ACTIVE actyf, from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#ACTIVE actif, from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#ACTIVE āctīv(us), from agere (“to do, to act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#ACTIVE *h₂éǵeti. By surface analysis, act +‎ -iveCategory:English terms suffixed with -ive#ACTIVE.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæk.tɪv/Category:English 2-syllable words#ACTIVECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ACTIVE

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#ACTIVE
• Rhymes: -æktɪvCategory:Rhymes:English/æktɪv#ACTIVECategory:Rhymes:English/æktɪv/2 syllables#ACTIVE
• Hyphenation: ac‧tive

Adjective

active (comparative more active, superlative most active)Category:English lemmas#ACTIVECategory:English adjectives#ACTIVECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. Having the power or quality of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting;—opposed to passive, that receives.

   Synonym: acting

   Antonym: passive

   certain active principlesCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

   the active powers of the mindCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

2. Quick in physical movement; of an agile and vigorous body; nimble.

   Synonyms: agile, nimble

   Antonyms: passive, indolent, still

   an active child or animalCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

3. In action; actually proceeding; working; in force

   Synonyms: in action, working, in force

   Antonyms: quiescent, dormant, extinct

   active lawsCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

   active hostilitiesCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

   1. (specifically, of certain geological features, such as volcano, geysers, etc) Emitting hot materials, such as lava, smoke, or steam, or producing tremors.
4. Given to action; constantly engaged in action; energetic; diligent; busy

   Synonyms: busy, deedful, diligent, energetic

   Antonyms: dull, sluggish, indolent, inert

   an active man of businessCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

   active mindCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

   active zealCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. […] He was smooth-faced, and his fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man in good physical condition through active exercise, yet well content with the world's apportionment.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ACTIVE

5. Requiring or implying action or exertion

   Synonym: operative

   Antonyms: passive, tranquil, sedentary

   active employment or serviceCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

   active scenesCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

6. Given to action rather than contemplation; practical; operative

   Antonyms: theoretical, speculative

   an active rather than a speculative statesmanCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

7. Brisk; lively.

   an active demand for cornCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

8. Implying or producing rapid action.

   Antonyms: passive, slow

   an active diseaseCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

   an active remedyCategory:English terms with collocations#ACTIVE

9. (heading, grammarCategory:en:Grammar#ACTIVE) About verbs.
   1. Applied to a form of the verb; — opposed to passive. See active voice.
   2. Applied to verbs which assert that the subject acts upon or affects something else; transitive.
   3. Applied to all verbs that express action as distinct from mere existence or state.
10. (computingCategory:en:Computing#ACTIVE, of source code) Eligible to be processed by a compiler or interpreter.
    • 2006 December 24, David Williams, “satellite program”, in comp.lang.basic.visual.misc‎ (Usenet):

      I think it should be upgraded to Visual BASIC, but I'm no good at that. So maybe someone here would like to take a crack at it. There are only 40 lines of active code, plus a few REMs. About 100 BASIC commands altogether.

      Category:English terms with quotations#ACTIVE

    • 2012, Chris Grover, “Triggering Actions”, in Adobe Edge Preview 5: The Missing Manual, 3rd edition, Sebastopol: O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 98:

      Edge uses green text for comments. This makes it easier for you to quickly differentiate between active code and comments.

      Category:English terms with quotations#ACTIVE

11. (electronicsCategory:en:Electronics#ACTIVE) Not passive.
12. (gay slangCategory:English gay slang#ACTIVE, of a homosexual man) enjoying a role in anal sex in which he penetrates, rather than being penetrated by his partner.

    Synonym: top

    Antonyms: passive, bottom

Noun

active (plural actives)Category:English lemmas#ACTIVECategory:English nouns#ACTIVECategory:English countable nouns#ACTIVECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. A person or thing that is acting or capable of acting.
   • 1989, The Alcalde, volume 78, number 2, page 11:

     "Alumni could become more active in giving guidance and leadership to students. They act as sort of a 'maturity governor' on fraternities," notes Ratliff, citing surveys suggesting that fraternity actives presume mistakenly that alumni want hazing […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#ACTIVE

2. (electronicsCategory:en:Electronics#ACTIVE) Any component that is not passive. See Passivity (engineering).
   • 2013, David Manners, Hitchhikers' Guide to Electronics in the '90s, page 36:

     Components are split into two broad segments: actives and passives. Active components like the vacuum tube and the transistor contain the power to generate and alter electrical signals.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ACTIVE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

Further reading

• “active”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “active”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Cavite

Verb

activeCategory:Asturian non-lemma forms#ACTIVECategory:Asturian verb forms#ACTIVECategory:Asturian entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of activar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of activar

Pronunciation

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#ACTIVE

Adjective

activeCategory:French non-lemma forms#ACTIVECategory:French adjective forms#ACTIVECategory:French entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. feminine singular of actif

Verb

activeCategory:French non-lemma forms#ACTIVECategory:French verb forms#ACTIVECategory:French entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. inflection of activer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• cavité

Verb

activeCategory:Galician non-lemma forms#ACTIVECategory:Galician verb forms#ACTIVECategory:Galician entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. inflection of activar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Alternative forms

• aktive

Etymology 1

Borrowed from LatinCategory:German terms borrowed from Latin#ACTIVECategory:German terms derived from Latin#ACTIVE āctīvē.

Etymology 2

Adjective

active (not comparable)Category:Interlingua lemmas#ACTIVECategory:Interlingua adjectives#ACTIVECategory:Interlingua entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. active

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

References

• “active”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “active”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to put the finishing touch to a work: extrema manus accēdit operi (active extremam manum imponere operi)
    
  • (ambiguous) to be some one's favourite: in amore et deliciis esse alicui (active in deliciis habere aliquem)
    

  Category:Latin words in Meissner and Auden's phrasebook

Adjective

activeCategory:Middle English alternative forms#ACTIVECategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. alternative form of actyf

Noun

activeCategory:Middle English alternative forms#ACTIVECategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. alternative form of actyf

Verb

activeCategory:Portuguese non-lemma forms#ACTIVECategory:Portuguese verb forms#ACTIVECategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. inflection of activar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [akˈti.ve]Category:Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation#ACTIVE

Adjective

activeCategory:Romanian non-lemma forms#ACTIVECategory:Romanian adjective forms#ACTIVECategory:Romanian entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. nominative/accusative feminine/neuter plural of activ

Verb

activeCategory:Spanish non-lemma forms#ACTIVECategory:Spanish verb forms#ACTIVECategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#ACTIVECategory:Pages with entries#ACTIVECategory:Pages with 11 entries#ACTIVE

1. inflection of activar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative