Active, a.
Etymology: [F. actif, L. activus, fr. agere to act.]
1. Having the power or quality of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting; -- opposed to Ant: passive, that receives; as, certain active principles; the powers of the mind.
2. Quick in physical movement; of an agile and vigorous body; nimble; as, an active child or animal. Active and nervous was his gait. Wordsworth.
3. In action; actually proceeding; working; in force; -- opposed to quiescent, dormant, or extinct; as, active laws; active hostilities; an active volcano.
4. Given to action; constantly engaged in action; energetic; diligent; busy; -- opposed to dull, sluggish, indolent, or inert; as, an active man of business; active mind; active zeal.
6 more senses
5. Requiring or implying action or exertion; -- opposed to Ant: sedentary or to Ant: tranquil; as, active employment or service; active scenes.
6. Given to action rather than contemplation; practical; operative; - - opposed to Ant: speculative or Ant: theoretical; as, an active rather than a speculative statesman.
7. Brisk; lively; as, an active demand for corn.
8. Implying or producing rapid action; as, an active disease; an active remedy.
9. (Gram.) (a) Applied to a form of the verb; -- opposed to Ant: passive. See Active voice, under Voice. (b) Applied to verbs which assert that the subject acts upon or affects something else; transitive. (c) Applied to all verbs that express action as distinct from mere existence or state. Active capital, Active wealth, money, or property that may readily be converted into money.
Syn. -- Agile; alert; brisk; vigorous; nimble; lively; quick; sprightly; prompt; energetic.
Shades of meaning
Active refers to both quickness and constancy of action; in the former sense it is allied with agile, alert, brisk, etc.; in the latter, with busy, diligent, industrious. The active love employment, the busy are actually employed, the diligent and the industrious are habitually busy. The restless are active from inability to keep quiet; their activity may be without purpose, or out of all proportion to the purpose contemplated. The officious are undesirably active in the affairs of others. Compare alert; alive; meddlesome.
Prepositions
Active in work, in a cause; for an object, as for justice; with persons or instrumentalities; about something, as about other people's business.