proactive

adjective pro·ac·tive \ (ˌ)prō-ˈak-tiv \

|Updated on: 20 Jun 2018

Definition of proactive

: relating to, caused by, or being interference between previous learning and the recall or performance of later learning

proactive inhibition of memory

[²pro- + reactive]

: acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes

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proactively

adverb

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Examples of proactive in a Sentence

A survey was given out to customers so that the company could take proactive steps to improve their service.
The city is taking a proactive approach to fighting crime by hiring more police officers.

Recent Examples of proactive from the Web

Counseling, mentoring and helping students deal with troubling situations are proactive parts of the job.

— bill leukhardt, Courant Community, "Plainville's First Resource Officer Coming To High School," 14 June 2018
This is faster than reading every comment, more flexible than simply performing keyword searches for slurs and more proactive than waiting for complaints.

— daniel lowd, Scientific American, "Can Facebook Use AI to Fight Online Abuse?," 13 June 2018
Be proactive and confirm that the timing works for the team.

— johnny c. taylor jr., USA TODAY, "Ask HR: My boss makes me feel guilty when I ask for vacation time. What can I do?," 5 June 2018
But if funding and rapid implementation are proving difficult for two of the nation’s most proactive cities, how will other communities prepare for the growing threat?

— sean patrick cooper, The New Republic, "Is America Ready for the Next Superstorm?," 4 June 2018
Other businesses should take note of what Starbuck is doing and be proactive about their own polices and training, Bolling-Williams said.

— amy lavaelley and craig lyons, Post-Tribune, "Starbucks sensitivity training a 'step in the right direction'," 29 May 2018
State cybersecurity centers aim to help companies be proactive in a number of ways.

— jeff stone, WSJ, "State Cybersecurity Centers Aim to Shrink Talent Gap," 25 May 2018
So the globalist mother and her son sue the lifeguard and win a huge settlement from an ultra-liberal proactive globalist judge at the World Court, in The Hague.

— rachel aviv, The New Yorker, "Take My Globalist Wife," 20 Dec. 2017
There is an urgent need to shift from a reactive to a proactive approach to health.

— per kristian hong, STAT, "The 1 percent will continue to get healthier. The 99 percent should, too," 24 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'proactive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

People who tend to react to a problem only when it's gotten serious could be called reactive people. Until recently, reactive (in this sense) didn't really have an antonym. So proactive was coined to describe the kind of person who's always looking into the future in order to be prepared for anything. A good parent attempts to be proactive on behalf of his or her children, trying to imagine the problems they might be facing in a few months or years. A company's financial officers study the patterns of the company's earnings to make sure it won't risk running short of cash at any point in the next year or two. Proactive has only been around a few decades, and it can still sometimes sound like a fashionable buzzword.