inactiveness
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Related to inactiveness: inactive account
in·ac·tive
(ĭn-ăk′tĭv)adj.
1. Not active or tending to be active: inactive students at risk for gaining weight.
2.
a. Not functioning or operating; out of use: inactive machinery.
b. Not being in continuous use or operation: an inactive brokerage account.
3. Retired from duty or service: inactive military personnel.
4. Chemistry Not readily participating in chemical reactions; inert.
5. Medicine Marked by the absence or lessening of disease activity.
6. Physics Showing no optical activity in polarized light.
in·ac′tive·ly adv.
in′ac·tiv′i·ty, in·ac′tive·ness n.
Synonyms: inactive, idle, inert, dormant, latent, quiescent
These adjectives mean not involved in or disposed to movement or activity. Inactive indicates absence of activity: retired but not inactive; an inactive factory. Idle refers to persons who are not doing anything or are not busy: employees who were idle because of the strike. It also refers to what is not in use or operation: idle machinery. Inert describes things powerless to move themselves or to produce a desired effect; applied to persons, it implies lethargy or sluggishness, especially of mind or spirit: "The Honorable Mrs. Jamieson ... was fat and inert, and very much at the mercy of her old servants" (Elizabeth C. Gaskell).
Dormant refers to a state of suspended activity but often implies the possibility of renewal: dormant feelings of affection. What is latent is present but not evident: latent ability. Quiescent sometimes—but not always—suggests temporary inactivity: "For a time, he [the whale] lay quiescent" (Herman Melville).
These adjectives mean not involved in or disposed to movement or activity. Inactive indicates absence of activity: retired but not inactive; an inactive factory. Idle refers to persons who are not doing anything or are not busy: employees who were idle because of the strike. It also refers to what is not in use or operation: idle machinery. Inert describes things powerless to move themselves or to produce a desired effect; applied to persons, it implies lethargy or sluggishness, especially of mind or spirit: "The Honorable Mrs. Jamieson ... was fat and inert, and very much at the mercy of her old servants" (Elizabeth C. Gaskell).
Dormant refers to a state of suspended activity but often implies the possibility of renewal: dormant feelings of affection. What is latent is present but not evident: latent ability. Quiescent sometimes—but not always—suggests temporary inactivity: "For a time, he [the whale] lay quiescent" (Herman Melville).
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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| Noun | 1. | inactiveness - the state of being inactive state - the way something is with respect to its main attributes; "the current state of knowledge"; "his state of health"; "in a weak financial state" abeyance, suspension - temporary cessation or suspension anergy - inactivity and lack of energy halt, stoppage, arrest, hitch, stay, stop, check - the state of inactivity following an interruption; "the negotiations were in arrest"; "held them in check"; "during the halt he got some lunch"; "the momentary stay enabled him to escape the blow"; "he spent the entire stop in his seat" calcification - an inflexible and unchanging state; "the calcification of negotiations" deep freeze - temporary inactivity or suspension; "the legislation has now been revived after ten years in the deep freeze" desuetude - a state of inactivity or disuse dormancy, quiescence, quiescency - a state of quiet (but possibly temporary) inaction; "the volcano erupted after centuries of dormancy" extinction - no longer active; extinguished; "the extinction of the volcano" holding pattern - a state of inaction with no progress and no change; "you should go into a holding pattern until he gets over his disappointment" rest - a state of inaction; "a body will continue in a state of rest until acted upon" doldrums, stagnation, stagnancy - a state of inactivity (in business or art etc); "economic growth of less than 1% per year is considered to be economic stagnation" stagnancy, stagnation - inactivity of liquids; being stagnant; standing still; without current or circulation stasis - inactivity resulting from a static balance between opposing forces activeness, activity, action - the state of being active; "his sphere of activity"; "he is out of action" |
| 2. | inactiveness - a disposition to remain inactive or inert; "he had to overcome his inertia and get back to work" trait - a distinguishing feature of your personal nature languor, lethargy, phlegm, sluggishness, flatness - inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy; "the general appearance of sluggishness alarmed his friends" restfulness - the attribute of being restful; "he longed for the restfulness of home" passivity, passiveness - the trait of remaining inactive; a lack of initiative activeness, activity - the trait of being active; moving or acting rapidly and energetically; "the level of activity declines with age" |
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