active
Syllables: ac·tive/ˈæk.tɪv/
active adjective: having the power or quality of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting;—opposed to passive, that receives.
Adjective
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.
- certain active principles
- the active powers of the mind
- Quick in physical movement; of an agile and vigorous body; nimble.
- an active child or animal
- In action; actually proceeding; working; in force
- active laws
- active hostilities
- 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
- Requiring or implying action or exertion
- active employment or service
- active scenes
- Synonyms:
- operative
- 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.
- an active disease
- an active remedy
- 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.
- Eligible to be processed by a compiler or interpreter.
- 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.2006 December 24, David Williams, “satellite program”, in comp.lang.basic.visual.misc (Usenet)
- Edge uses green text for comments. This makes it easier for you to quickly differentiate between active code and comments.2012, Chris Grover, “Triggering Actions”, in Adobe Edge Preview 5: The Missing Manual, 3rd edition, Sebastopol: O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 98
- Not passive.
- enjoying a role in anal sex in which he penetrates, rather than being penetrated by his partner.
- Synonyms:
- top
Noun
active (plural actives)
- A person or thing that is acting or capable of acting.
- "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
- Any component that is not passive. See Passivity (engineering).
- 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
active meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
active in Hindi
- in action
- सक्रिय sakriya, क्रियात्मक kriyātmak
- in grammar
- क्रियात्मक kriyātmak
- having the quality or power of acting
- सक्रिय sakriya
- quick in physical movement
- चपल capal
active in Tamil
- சுறுசுறுப்புள்ள, இயக்கத்திலுள்ள, ஆற்றுமை
active in Urdu
- active, working
- سرگرم sargarm
- active, live; fresh
- گرم garm
active in Bengali
- active
- চোস্ত cōsto
More languagesFewer languages
- active in Telugu
- సకర్మక క్రియ sakarmaka kriya, సకర్మకక్రియ sakarmakakriya, లఘువు laghuvu
- active in Malayalam
- സജീവ sajīva, സജീവമായ sajīvamāya
- active in Kannada
- ತೊಡಗಿರುವ, ಹುರುಪುಳ್ಳ, ಹುರುಪಿನ, ಚುರುಕಾದ
- active in Punjabi
- ਚੁਸਤ cusat
- active in Odia
- ଉଷ୍ଣ uṣṇa, ଚୋଖ cokha
- active in Sanskrit
- अपस् apás
- active in Assamese
- সক্ৰিয় xokriy
- active in Tagalog
- aktibo, tukuyan
- active in Arabic
- شَغَّال šaḡḡāl, عَامِل ʕāmil, نَشِيط našīṭ, حَرِك ḥarik
- active in Malay
- giat, aktif
- active in Persian
- معلوم ma'lum, آکتیو âktiv, کاری kâri, کنشور konešvar
- active in Vietnamese
- chủ động
Examples of active in a sentence
- Her baby had always been active, even before he was born, when he would kick her bladder.
- My grandmother is a very active woman and is quite young for her age.
- Thanks to its sonar, the narwhal can remain active even at midnight, unhindered by the darkness.
Synonyms of active
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of active
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more active |
| superlative | most active |
| Noun | |
| plural | actives |
Origin of active
From Middle English actyf, from Old French actif, from Latin āctīv(us), from agere (“to do, to act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti. By surface analysis, act + -ive.
Words formed from active
- actifan
- actimetry
- activase
- activate
- active braking time
- active camouflage
- active couple
- active directory
- active dry yeast
- active duty
- active echolocation
- active euthanasia
- active fault
- active front
- active galactic nucleus
- active galaxy
- active gravitational mass
- active ingredient
- active learning
- active lidar
- active listening
- actively
- active material
- active matrix
- active measures
- activeness
- active noise cancellation
- active noise control
- active participle
- active photolocation
- active power
- active radar
- active radicalization
- active recall
- active rock
- active service
- active shooter
- active solar
- active sonar
- active suffrage
- active time battle
- active timing
- active transport
- active travel
- active vocabulary
- active voice
- active volcano
- activewear
- activism
- activist
- activity
- activize
- actometry
- ambiactive
- audioactive
- autoactive
- bioactive
- bronchoactive
- cardioactive
- cloud-active
Phrases with active
- Greek active
- active faults
- active fronts
- active lidars
- active powers
- active radars
- active sonars
- active voices
- French active
- active couples
- active timings
- active galaxies
24 more phrasesFewer phrases
- active matrices
- active matrixes
- active shooters
- active volcanos
- active materials
- active volcanoes
- optically active
- active dry yeasts
- active directories
- active ingredients
- active participles
- active time battles
- active vocabularies
- active braking times
- active shooter drill
- active galactic nuclei
- past active participle
- past active participles
- present active participle
- present active participles
- active gravitational masses
- dual active galactic nuclei
- diurnal active photolocation
- nocturnal active photolocation
Words that rhyme with active
- inactive
- reactive
- attractive
- extractive
- protractive
- abstractive
- factive
- hyperactive
- interactive
- radioactive
- subtractive
- unattractive
14 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about active
- What does active mean?
- Active means having the power or quality of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting;—opposed to passive, that receives.
- What is active in Hindi?
- Active in Hindi is सक्रिय (sakriya), क्रियात्मक (kriyātmak), चपल (capal). See Active meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is active?
- Active can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce active?
- Active is pronounced /ˈæk.tɪv/.
Words near active in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: active (page history and authors); active (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); سرگرم (Urdu) (page history and authors); চোস্ত (Bengali) (page history and authors); లఘువు (Telugu) (page history and authors); active (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਚੁਸਤ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ଉଷ୍ଣ (Odia) (page history and authors); अपस् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-active.ogg.
Cite this entry: “active.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/active. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.