active (adj.)

  1. tending to become more severe or wider in scope; active tuberculosis'

  2. expressing that the subject of the sentence has the semantic function of actor: Hemingway favors active constructions'

  3. (used of verbs (e.g. `to run) and participial adjectives (e.g. `running in `running water)) expressing action rather than a state of being

    [ Syn: dynamic ]

  4. (of e.g. volcanos) capable of erupting

  5. (of e.g. volcanos) erupting or liable to erupt; active volcanos'

  6. engaged in full-time work; active duty; though past retirement age he is still active in his profession'

  7. disposed to take action or effectuate change; a director who takes an active interest in corporate operations; an active antagonism; he was active in drawing attention to their grievances'

  8. characterized by energetic activity; an active toddler; active as a gazelle; an active man is a man of action'

  9. exerting influence or producing a change or effect; an active ingredient'

  10. full of activity or engaged in continuous activity; an active seaport; an active bond market; an active account'

  11. (of the sun) characterized by an increased occurrence of sunspots and flares and radio emissions

    active (n.)

  1. chemical agent capable of activity

    [ Syn: active agent ]

  2. the voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is performing the action or causing the happening denoted by the verb; `The boy threw the ball uses the active voice

    [ Syn: active voice ]

  3. a person who is a participating member of an organization; the club issues a list of members, both the actives and the retirees'

    active (adj.)

  1. engaged in or ready for military or naval operations; on active duty; the platoon is combat-ready; review the fighting forces

    [ Syn: combat-ready , fighting ]

  2. taking part in an activity; an active member of the club; he was politically active; the participating organizations

    [ Syn: participating ]

  3. in operation; keep hope alive; the tradition was still alive; an active tradition

    [ Syn: alive ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.