Dictionary entry details
• INACTIVE (adjective)
Meaning:
Not participating in a chemical reaction; chemically inert
Context example:
desired amounts of inactive chlorine
Similar:
unreactive (not reacting chemically)
Meaning:
Not progressing or increasing; or progressing slowly
Similar:
quiescent (causing no symptoms)
latent (not presently active)
indolent ((of tumors e.g) slow to heal or develop and usually painless)
flat (commercially inactive)
dead-end (lacking opportunities for development or advancement)
arrested; in remission (having development checked or reversed)
Domain category:
pathology (the branch of medical science that studies the causes and nature and effects of diseases)
Antonym:
active (tending to become more severe or wider in scope)
Meaning:
Not involved in military operations
Synonyms:
nonoperational; inactive
Meaning:
Not exerting influence or change
Similar:
quiescent (not active or activated)
Antonym:
active (exerting influence or producing a change or effect)
Meaning:
Of e.g. volcanos; not erupting and not extinct
Synonyms:
dormant; inactive
Context example:
a dormant volcano
Similar:
quiescent (being quiet or still or inactive)
Attribute:
dormancy; quiescence; quiescency (a state of quiet (but possibly temporary) inaction)
Meaning:
Lacking in energy or will
Synonyms:
passive; inactive
Context example:
Much benevolence of the passive order may be traced to a disinclination to inflict pain upon oneself
Similar:
resistless; supine; unresisting (offering no resistance)
hands-off (not involving participation or intervention)
Attribute:
passiveness; passivity (the trait of remaining inactive; a lack of initiative)
Meaning:
Lacking activity; lying idle or unused
Context examples:
an inactive mine / inactive accounts / inactive machinery
Similar:
strikebound (closed or immobilized by a strike)
idle; unused (not in active use)
dull; slow; sluggish ((of business) not active or brisk)
dead (devoid of activity)
dark (not giving performances; closed)
Antonym:
active (full of activity or engaged in continuous activity)
Meaning:
Not engaged in full-time work
Context examples:
inactive reserve / an inactive member of the department
Similar:
off (not performing or scheduled for duties)
on leave (absent with permission from work or duty)
retired (no longer active in your work or profession)
Domain category:
armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)
Antonym:
active (engaged in full-time work)
Meaning:
Not active physically or mentally
Context examples:
illness forced him to live an inactive life / dreamy and inactive by nature
Similar:
desk-bound; deskbound (restricted to working in an office rather than in an active physical capacity)
dormant (inactive but capable of becoming active)
hypoactive; underactive (abnormally inactive)
inert; sluggish; soggy; torpid (slow and apathetic)
sedentary (requiring sitting or little activity)
Also:
lethargic; unergetic (deficient in alertness or activity)
Attribute:
activeness; activity (the trait of being active; moving or acting rapidly and energetically)
Antonym:
active (characterized by energetic activity)
Meaning:
Not in physical motion
Synonyms:
motionless; still; static; inactive
Context example:
the inertia of an object at rest
Similar:
nonmoving; unmoving (not in motion)
