INACTIVE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Inactive

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/ɪnˈæktɪv/ Listen

adjective

Inactive adj.

1.

Not active; having no power to move; that does not or can not produce results; inert; as, matter is, of itself, inactive.

2.

Not disposed to action or effort; not diligent or industrious; not busy; idle; as, an inactive officer.

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.

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.

Synonyms: Inert; dull; sluggish; idle; indolent; slothful; lazy. See Inert.

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Etymology of 'Inactive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Inactive" Quotes from Famous Books

... thus closely mewed up within his walls and the Christians remained inactive in their camp, he noticed, one calm autumnal day, the sound of implements of labor echoing among the mountains, and now and then the crash of a falling tree or a thundering report, as if some rock had been heaved from its bed and hurled ...

— Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada • Washington Irving

... lower end of the city, the battery was speedily captured and its guns were turned upon another work of the enemy. An entrance into the east end of the city was now secured, and the houses protected our troops so long as they were inactive. On the west General Worth had reached the Saltillo road after some fighting but without heavy loss. He turned from his new position and captured the forts on both heights in that quarter. This gave him possession of the upper or west end of Monterey. ...

— Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete • Ulysses S. Grant

... this enchanting approach brought us to the outskirts of Rivas, and we entered a narrow, mud-walled street, and never halted until we came out upon the central and only plaza of the miserable town. Our incumbered march, without breakfast, after a long, inactive sea-voyage, had wearied us sadly; and we threw our luggage upon, the ground, lay down upon it, and ruminated on a scene of little comfort to the faint-hearted, if there were any such in our little crowd of world-battered and battering ...

— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. IV, No. 26, December, 1859 • Various

... elements differ, each being united with O and H, and yet producing compounds of a directly opposite character; (4) that salts are really compounded of acids and bases. This explains why salts are usually inactive and neutral in character, while acids and bases are active agents. Thus we see why the most positive or the most negative elements in general have the strongest affinities, while those intermediate in the list are inactive, and have weak affinities; why alloys of the metals ...

— An Introduction to Chemical Science • R.P. Williams

... hatching in the bed and floating down the surface of the stream. As the trout do not rise until the natural fly appears, and as the hatches of fly are capricious, there are often weary hours of waiting when the angler must be perforce inactive. His exercise comes in full measure when the hour of action does arrive, and he will find some motion even in the eventless intervals by walking up the river on the look-out for olive dun or ...

— Lines in Pleasant Places - Being the Aftermath of an Old Angler • William Senior

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