Inactive

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɪnˈæktɪv/

Definitions

1. Not engaging in action, movement, or regular activity; remaining idle or dormant
2. Not functioning or turned off, lacking current use or operation ; lacking physical or mental engagement or energy, showing no activity
3. Temporarily stopped or suspended from working or operating ; showing no sign of effort or movement in mental or bodily tasks

Etymology: The adjective "inactive" is built from Latin "in-", meaning "not", and "activus", an adjective from "agere", "to drive, do or act". Latin "activus" itself came into use in the sense of "active" and was the root for a range of later English words. Adding the negating prefix produced "inactivus", which passed through French as "inactif", and English took the form on from there. The English word is a doublet of "unactive", a formation that existed alongside it. Both words come from the same Latin source, but they reached English by different routes, so the two forms developed side by side and today "inactive" is the one that dominates in modern use, especially in technical and official contexts such as "inactive account" or "inactive ingredient".

Synonyms: dormant, idle, passive, sluggish, lethargic

Antonyms: active, lively, energetic, dynamic, vibrant