1. Lacking activity; lying idle or unused
   "inactive machinery"; "an inactive mine"; "inactive accounts"
    
2. Not active physically or mentally
   "illness forced him to live an inactive life"; "dreamy and inactive by nature"
    
3. Not engaged in full-time work
   "inactive reserve"; "an inactive member"
    
4. Lacking in energy or will
   "Much benevolence of the inactive order may be traced to a disinclination to inflict pain upon oneself";
   - passive
    
5. Not exerting influence or change
   "The drug became inactive after exposure to heat"
    
6. Not in physical motion
   "She remained inactive, yet poised to take flight";
   - motionless, static, still
    
7. (chemistry) not participating in a chemical reaction; chemically inert
   "desired amounts of inactive chlorine"
    
8. (pathology) not progressing or increasing; or progressing slowly
   "The patient's condition remained inactive for several weeks"
    
9. (of e.g. volcanoes) not erupting and not extinct
   "Mount Fuji has been inactive for centuries";
   - dormant
    
10. (military) not involved in military operations
    "The unit remained inactive during peacetime";
    - nonoperational

See also: abeyant, activeness, activity, dark, dead, dead-end, deskbound, desk-bound, dormancy, dormant, dozy [Brit, informal], dull, flat, hands-off, hypoactive, idle, indolent, inert, latent, lethargic, nonmoving, off, passiveness, passivity, quiescence, quiescency, quiescent, resistless, retired, sedentary, sleeping, slow, sluggish, strikebound, supine, torpid, underactive, unenergetic, unmoving, unreactive, unresisting, unused

Antonym: active, operational

Encyclopedia: Inactive