active

From Middle English actif, from Old French actif, from Latin activus, from agere (“to do, to act”); see act.

• IPA^(key): /ˈæk.tɪv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æktɪv

active (comparative more active, superlative most active)

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

   certain active principles;  the active powers of the mind

   Synonym: acting

   Antonym: passive

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

   an active child or animal

   Synonyms: agile, nimble

   Antonyms: passive, indolent, still

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

   active laws;  active hostilities

   Synonyms: in action, working, in force

   Antonyms: quiescent, dormant, extinct

   1. (specifically, of a volcano) Being an active volcano. Compare extinct and dormant
4. Given to action; constantly engaged in action; energetic; diligent; busy

   an active man of business;  active mind;  active zeal

   Antonyms: dull, sluggish, indolent, inert

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0108:

     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.

   Synonyms: busy, deedful, diligent, energetic

5. Requiring or implying action or exertion

   active employment or service  active scenes

   Synonym: operative

   Antonyms: passive, tranquil, sedentary

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

   an active rather than a speculative statesman

   Antonyms: theoretical, speculative

7. Brisk; lively.

   an active demand for corn

8. Implying or producing rapid action.

   an active disease;  an active remedy

   Antonyms: passive, slow

9. (heading, grammar) 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. (computing, of source code) Capable of being 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.

    • 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.

11. (gay sexual slang) (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

• See also Thesaurus:active

• act

• versatile (in relation to sense 10)

active (plural actives)

1. A person or thing that is acting or capable of acting.

• active in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• active in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

• Cavite

active

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

active

1. feminine singular of actif

active

1. first-person singular present indicative of activer
2. third-person singular present indicative of activer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of activer
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of activer
5. second-person singular imperative of activer

• cavité

• aktive

Borrowed from Latin āctīvē.

active

1. (grammar, obsolete) actively

active

1. inflected form of activ

active (not comparable)

1. active

• action
• activitate

āctīvē (comparative āctīvius, superlative āctīvissimē)

1. (grammar) actively

āctīve

1. vocative masculine singular of āctīvus

• 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)
    

active

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of activar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of activar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of activar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of activar

• IPA^(key): [akˈti.ve]

active

1. nominative feminine plural of activ
2. accusative feminine plural of activ
3. nominative neuter plural of activ
4. accusative neuter plural of activ

active

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of activar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of activar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of activar.