# active
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English actyf, from Old French actif, from Latin activus, from agere (“to do, to act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti.
Morphologically act +‎ -ive.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈæk.tɪv/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -æktɪv

### 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.
    Synonym: acting
    Antonym: passive
    certain active principles
    the active powers of the mind
* Quick in physical movement; of an agile and vigorous body; nimble.
    Synonyms: agile, nimble
    Antonyms: passive, indolent, still
    an active child or animal
* In action; actually proceeding; working; in force
    Synonyms: in action, working, in force
    Antonyms: quiescent, dormant, extinct
    active laws
    active hostilities
** (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
    Synonyms: busy, deedful, diligent, energetic
    Antonyms: dull, sluggish, indolent, inert
    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: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
    Synonym: operative
    Antonyms: passive, tranquil, sedentary
    active employment or service
    active scenes
* Given to action rather than contemplation; practical; operative
    Antonyms: theoretical, speculative
    an active rather than a speculative statesman
* Brisk; lively.
    an active demand for corn
* Implying or producing rapid action.
    Antonyms: passive, slow
    an active disease
    an active remedy
* (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):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.
* (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.
    Synonym: top
    Antonyms: passive, bottom

#### Synonyms

* See also Thesaurus:active

#### Derived terms

* 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 participle
* active photolocation
* active power
* active radar
* active radicalization
* active rock
* active service
* active shooter
* active solar
* active sonar
* 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
* coactive
* cyberactive
* cytoactive
* diurnal active photolocation
* electroactive
* endoactive
* exoactive
* French active
* Greek active
* hyperactive
* hypoactive
* immunoactive
* interactive
* magnetoactive
* mechanoactive
* mucoactive
* myoactive
* neuroactive
* nocturnal active photolocation
* nonactive
* normoactive
* omniactive
* optically active
* overactive
* periactive
* pharmacoactive
* photoactive
* phytoactive
* piezoactive
* preactive
* proactive
* pseudoactive
* psychoactive
* psychroactive
* radioactive
* retroactive
* semiactive
* semi-active
* subactive
* superactive
* surface-active
* unactive
* underactive
* vasoactive
* venoactive

#### Related terms

* act

#### Descendants

* Albanian: aktiv

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### See also

* versatile (in relation to sense 10)

### Noun

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 […]
* (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.

### 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

## Asturian
### Verb

active
* first-person singular present subjunctive of activar
* third-person singular present subjunctive of activar

## French
### Pronunciation

* Audio (Canada):(file)

### Adjective

active
* feminine singular of actif

### Verb

active
* inflection of activer:
** first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
** second-person singular imperative

### Anagrams

* cavité

## Galician
### Verb

active
* inflection of activar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative

## German
### Alternative forms

* aktive

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin āctīvē.

#### Adverb

active
* (grammar, obsolete) actively

### Etymology 2
#### Adjective

active
* inflection of activ:
** strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
** strong nominative/accusative plural
** weak nominative all-gender singular
** weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

## Interlingua
### Adjective

active (not comparable)
* active

#### Related terms

* action
* activitate

## Latin
### Etymology 1
#### Adverb

āctīvē (comparative āctīvius, superlative āctīvissimē)
* (grammar) actively

### Etymology 2
#### Adjective

āctīve
* vocative masculine singular of āctīvus

### 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)

## Middle English
### Adjective

active
* Alternative form of actyf

### Noun

active
* Alternative form of actyf

## Portuguese
### Verb

active
* inflection of activar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative

## Romanian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [akˈti.ve]

### Adjective

active
* nominative/accusative feminine/neuter plural of activ

## Spanish
### Verb

active
* inflection of activar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative