Inactive

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Inactive \In*ac"tive\, a. [Pref. in- not + active: cf. F.
     inactif.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. Not active; having no power to move; that does not or can
        not produce results; inert; as, matter is, of itself,
        inactive.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Not disposed to action or effort; not diligent or
        industrious; not busy; idle; as, an inactive officer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (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;
        as, racemic acid is an inactive tartaric acid.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (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; as, after boiling for ten minutes,
        the enzyme was totally inactive; the methyl analog was
        inactive as an antibiotic.
        [PJC]
  
     Syn: Inert; dull; sluggish; idle; indolent; slothful; lazy.
          See {Inert}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  inactive
       adj 1: not participating in a chemical reaction; "desired amounts
              of inactive chlorine"
       2: not progressing or increasing; or progressing slowly [ant: {active}]
       3: not active or exerting influence [ant: {active}]
       4: of e.g. volcanos; permanently inactive; "an extinct volcano"
          [syn: {extinct}] [ant: {active}, {dormant}]
       5: of e.g. volcanos; temporarily inactive; "a dormant volcano"
          [syn: {dormant}] [ant: {extinct}, {active}]
       6: lacking in energy or will; "Much benevolence of the passive
          order may be traced to a disinclination to inflict pain
          upon oneself"- George Meredith [syn: {passive}] [ant: {active}]
       7: lacking activity; lying idle or unused; "an inactive mine";
          "inactive accounts"; "inactive machinery" [ant: {active}]
       8: not engaged in full-time work; "inactive reserve" ; "an
          inactive member of the department" [ant: {active}]
       9: not active physically or mentally; "illness forced him to
          live an inactive life"; "dreamy and inactive by nature"
          [ant: {active}]
       10: not engaged in military action [syn: {reserve(a)}]
       11: not in physical motion; "the inertia of an object at rest"
           [syn: {motionless}, {static}, {still}]
       12: temporarily inactive [syn: {abeyant}, {in abeyance(p)}, {suspended}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  94 Moby Thesaurus words for "inactive":
     abeyant, apathetic, asleep, at a standstill, cataleptic, catatonic,
     contemplative, dead, deliberate, disengaged, do-nothing, dopey,
     dormant, dull, easy, flat, foul, groggy, hasteless, heavy, idle,
     immobile, in abeyance, in suspense, inanimate, indolent, inert,
     inoperative, jobless, lackadaisical, laissez-aller, laissez-faire,
     languid, languorous, latent, lazy, leaden, leisurely, lethargic,
     lifeless, listless, logy, meditative, motionless, neuter, neutral,
     ossified, out of work, pacific, paralytic, paralyzed, passive,
     peaceful, phlegmatic, placid, procrastinating, quiescent, quiet,
     quietist, quietistic, relaxed, resting, sedentary, serene, slack,
     sleeping, sleepy, slothful, slow, sluggish, slumbering, smoldering,
     somnolent, stagnant, stagnating, standing, standpat, static,
     stationary, still, supine, suspended, tame, torpid, tranquil,
     unactive, unaroused, unemployed, unhasty, unhurried, unmoving,
     unoccupied, vegetable, vegetative