active
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See also: activé
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English actyf, from Old French actif, from Latin activus, from agere (“to do, to act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
active (comparative more active, superlative most active)
- Having the power or quality of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting;—opposed to passive, that receives.
- Quick in physical movement; of an agile and vigorous body; nimble.
- In action; actually proceeding; working; in force
- active laws
- active hostilities
- Synonyms: in action, working, in force
- Antonyms: quiescent, dormant, extinct
- (specifically, of certain geological features, such as volcano, geysers, etc) Emitting hot materials, such as lava, smoke, or steam, or producing tremors.
- Given to action; constantly engaged in action; energetic; diligent; busy
- an active man of business
- active mind
- active zeal
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314:
- 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.
- Requiring or implying action or exertion
- Given to action rather than contemplation; practical; operative
- an active rather than a speculative statesman
- Antonyms: theoretical, speculative
- Brisk; lively.
- an active demand for corn
- Implying or producing rapid action.
- (heading, grammar) About verbs.
- Applied to a form of the verb; — opposed to passive. See active voice.
- Applied to verbs which assert that the subject acts upon or affects something else; transitive.
- Applied to all verbs that express action as distinct from mere existence or state.
- (computing, 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[1]:
- 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.
- (electronics) Not passive.
- (gay sexual slang) (of a homosexual man) enjoying a role in anal sex in which he penetrates, rather than being penetrated by his partner.
Synonyms[edit]
- See also Thesaurus:active
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
having the quality or power of acting
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quick in physical movement
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in action
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given to action
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requiring or implying action or exertion
given to action rather than contemplation
brisk; lively
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in grammar
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also[edit]
- versatile (in relation to sense 10)
Noun[edit]
active (plural actives)
- 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 […]
- 1989, The Alcalde (volume 78, number 2, page 11)
- (electronics) 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.
- 2013, David Manners, Hitchhikers' Guide to Electronics in the '90s (page 36)
Further reading[edit]
- “active” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- “active” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams[edit]
Asturian[edit]
Verb[edit]
active
- first-person singular present subjunctive of activar
- third-person singular present subjunctive of activar
French[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (CAN) (file)
Adjective[edit]
active
Verb[edit]
active
- inflection of activer:
Anagrams[edit]
German[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Adverb[edit]
active
Etymology 2[edit]
Adjective[edit]
active
- inflection of activ:
Interlingua[edit]
Adjective[edit]
active (not comparable)
Related terms[edit]
Latin[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Adverb[edit]
āctīvē (comparative āctīvius, superlative āctīvissimē)
Etymology 2[edit]
Adjective[edit]
āctīve
References[edit]
- 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[2], 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)
- (ambiguous) to put the finishing touch to a work: extrema manus accēdit operi (active extremam manum imponere operi)
Middle English[edit]
Adjective[edit]
active
- Alternative form of actyf
Noun[edit]
active
- Alternative form of actyf
Portuguese[edit]
Verb[edit]
active
- first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of activar
- third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of activar
- third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of activar
- third-person singular (você) negative imperative of activar
Romanian[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
active
Spanish[edit]
Verb[edit]
active
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂eǵ-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English words suffixed with -ive
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/æktɪv
- Rhymes:English/æktɪv/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Grammar
- en:Computing
- en:Electronics
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Asturian non-lemma forms
- Asturian verb forms
- French terms with audio links
- French non-lemma forms
- French adjective forms
- French verb forms
- German terms borrowed from Latin
- German terms derived from Latin
- German lemmas
- German adverbs
- de:Grammar
- German terms with obsolete senses
- German non-lemma forms
- German adjective forms
- Interlingua lemmas
- Interlingua adjectives
- Latin lemmas
- Latin adverbs
- la:Grammar
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin adjective forms
- Latin words in Meissner and Auden's phrasebook
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English adjectives
- Middle English nouns
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian adjective forms
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms
- Spanish forms of verbs ending in -ar