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APG.American
Pronunciation Guide
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

active

/ˈæktɪv/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does active mean?

adjective

  1. Having the power or quality of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting;—opposed to passive, that receives.
  2. Quick in physical movement; of an agile and vigorous body; nimble.
  3. In action; actually proceeding; working; in force
More meanings (14)

adjective

  1. Emitting hot materials, such as lava, smoke, or steam, or producing tremors.
  2. Given to action; constantly engaged in action; energetic; diligent; busy
  3. Requiring or implying action or exertion
  4. Given to action rather than contemplation; practical; operative
  5. Brisk; lively.
  6. Implying or producing rapid action.
  7. Applied to a form of the verb; — opposed to passive. See active voice.
  8. Applied to verbs which assert that the subject acts upon or affects something else; transitive.
  9. Applied to all verbs that express action as distinct from mere existence or state.
  10. Eligible to be processed by a compiler or interpreter.
  11. Not passive.
  12. (slang) enjoying a role in anal sex in which he penetrates, rather than being penetrated by his partner.

noun

  1. A person or thing that is acting or capable of acting.
  2. Any component that is not passive. See Passivity (engineering).
Wiktionary contributors

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈæktɪv/

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

Then, being nothing if not practical, they set their keen and active minds to discover the kind of conduct expected of them.
Charlotte Perkins GilmanHerlandProject Gutenberg ebook #32
Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper or his impatience with a less active intelligence than his own.
Arthur Conan DoyleThe Return of Sherlock HolmesProject Gutenberg ebook #108
More book examples (3)
His was one of the natures in which conscience gets the more active when the yoke of life ceases to gall them.
George EliotMiddlemarchProject Gutenberg ebook #145
He looked like a man who was going to be ill, and yet she had never seen him more restless and active.
Henry JamesThe AmericanProject Gutenberg ebook #177
When the tide-bell rung the boats were hoisted out, and two active seamen were employed to keep them from receiving damage alongside.
Robert Louis StevensonRecords of a Family of EngineersProject Gutenberg ebook #280