Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not active or tending to be active.
- adj. Not functioning or operating; out of use: inactive machinery.
- adj. Not being in continuous use or operation: an inactive brokerage account.
- adj. Retired from duty or service.
- adj. Chemistry Not readily participating in chemical reactions; inert.
- adj. Biology Marked by the absence or reduction of activity, such as the ability to cause infection.
- adj. Medicine Quiescent. Used especially of a disease.
- adj. Physics Showing no optical activity in polarized light.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not active or acting. Incapable of action; without power of movement or exertion; inert; lifeless: as, matter is of itself inactive.
- Marked by inaction or sluggishness; destitute of activity: as, an inactive existence; the inactive stage of insect life (that is, the period of metamorphosis, generally passed in concealment). Synonyms Inert, Lazy, etc. (see idle), passive, supine.
- In chem., causing no rotation in the plane of polarized light.
Wiktionary
- adj. Not active, temporarily or permanently
- adj. Not functioning or operating; broken down
- adj. Retired from duty or service
- adj. chemistry Relatively inert
- adj. physics Showing no optical activity in polarized light
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not active; having no power to move; that does not or can not produce results; inert.
- adj. Not disposed to action or effort; not diligent or industrious; not busy; idle.
- adj. (Chem. & Opt.) Not exhibiting any action or activity on polarized light;
optically inactive ; optically neutral; -- said of isomeric forms of certain substances, in distinction from other forms which are optically active. - adj. (Chem. & Biochem.) Lacking biological or biochemical activity; not causing a specific biological or biochemical effect; -- said of substances such as enzymes which have lost their catalytic power, or of small molecules which are tested for some type of biological activity and found to lack that activity.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (chemistry) not participating in a chemical reaction; chemically inert
- adj. (military) not involved in military operations
- adj. lacking in energy or will
- adj. (pathology) not progressing or increasing; or progressing slowly
- adj. not exerting influence or change
- adj. not engaged in full-time work
- adj. not in physical motion
- adj. (of e.g. volcanos) not erupting and not extinct
- adj. lacking activity; lying idle or unused
- adj. not active physically or mentally
Etymologies
- From in- + active (Wiktionary)
Examples
“I may be misunderstanding the term inactive, of course.”
“As he could never endure what he calls the inactive chattering of the parlour -- people sitting in front of one another with folded hands and nothing in motion except the tongue -- he learnt the art of making laces; he used to carry his pillow about with him, or sat at his own door working like the women of the village, and chatting with the passers-by.”
“One single thing would be unthinkable: to remain inactive, voiceless, in the face of this insane escalation.”
“Under state law, these people are classified as "inactive" voters”
The Wall Street Journal: Battle in Denver on Who Gets Ballots
“Also expected to be inactive is receiver Anthony Armstrong, who suffered a groin injury last week.”
“The SF world does not remain inactive; many inventive and creative people try to find solutions and keep SF alive.”
“With Stephon Marbury again inactive, they went scoreless for more than 3 1/2 minutes to start the third quarter and never recovered.”
“C/F Oleksiy Pecherov was again inactive for Washington.”
“The Web is a dynamic environment, so I urge readers to search for the documents cited in inactive links; they may again become available.”
Manhood in the Age of Aquarius: Masculinity in Two Countercultural Communities, 196583
“Bank of America Corp., which received $45 billion through TARP and has the industry's largest U.S. card portfolio, said in its submission to the Treasury that credit-card loan balances and new account originations declined in February "due to continued reduction of exposure on long term inactive customers and line reductions on high risk accounts.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘inactive’.
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Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
webdev
random webdev lingo used primarily in computer programming.
( open list, randomness, technical jargon, geek speak )
more:
ajax, user, admin, frontend, backend, database, sql, protocol, call, dom, layout, ui and 440 more... -
i.e.
On the model of insure/ensure.
insure, ensure, inquire, enquire, indorse, endorse, inter, enter, inthrall, enthrall, inflame, enflame and 42 more...
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Types of Reasoning
types of "reasoning"
deductive, reductive, seductive, abductive, photoconductive, reproductive, conductive, obstructive, introductive, productive, reconstructive, subductive and 4 more...
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Insurance Data-Related words
claimant, delete, register, invoice, spreadsheet, alert, electronic, cartridge, password, dashboard, certificate, presentation and 90 more...
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I
The Unique
egoist, individualist, loner, hateful, asocial, inactive, anarchist, misanthrope, fascist, disturbed, bored, isolationist and 111 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Words Against Bush (and/or his admini...
These are words that have been used, might have been used, or could be used in association with the current president and/or his administration. They are only listed as a device to remind the read...
cowboy, naive, ignorant, vengeful, vindictive, grudge, petulant, angry, bully, immature, inexperienced, afraid and 85 more...
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faded glory
days of yore, once upon a time, obsolete, passé, cliché, démodé, jaded, former glory, bygone, ruined, ancient, decrepit and 45 more...
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Ad Speak
This list will house words I encounter on packaging and in advertisements.
microwaveable, phenylketonurics, phenylalanine, bioplastic, compostable, biocompostable, all natural, resealable, cholesterol, organic, serving, guaranteed and 57 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for inactive.
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