Synonym Chooser

How is the word inactive different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of inactive are idle, inert, passive, and supine. While all these words mean "not engaged in work or activity," inactive applies to anyone or anything not in action or in operation or at work.

on inactive status as an astronaut
inactive accounts

When could idle be used to replace inactive?

In some situations, the words idle and inactive are roughly equivalent. However, idle applies to persons that are not busy or occupied or to their powers or their implements.

workers were idle in the fields

When can inert be used instead of inactive?

The words inert and inactive can be used in similar contexts, but inert as applied to things implies powerlessness to move or to affect other things; as applied to persons it suggests an inherent or habitual indisposition to activity.

inert ingredients in drugs
an inert citizenry

When is it sensible to use passive instead of inactive?

The words passive and inactive are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, passive implies immobility or lack of normally expected response to an external force or influence and often suggests deliberate submissiveness or self-control.

passive resistance

When is supine a more appropriate choice than inactive?

The meanings of supine and inactive largely overlap; however, supine applies only to persons and commonly implies abjectness or indolence.

a supine willingness to play the fool

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of inactive However, there was a 24-minute period where his phone was reportedly inactive. Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 2 Oct. 2025 First-round defensive lineman Shemar Stewart was inactive Monday night due to an ankle injury and has had a quiet start so far. Josh Kendall, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025 Tight end Lucas Krull, meanwhile, was also inactive for the first time this year. Luca Evans, Denver Post, 29 Sep. 2025 The inactive list included starting cornerback Renardo Green, who is dealing with a neck injury. Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 29 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for inactive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inactive
Adjective
  • Unlike Bacalar, which is relatively new to tourism, Tulum has been transformed from a sleepy backwater into a pumping party town.
    Simon Willis, Travel + Leisure, 5 Oct. 2025
  • Most days are quiet in Armenia’s sleepy southern province of Syunik.
    Michele Crestani, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • To determine whether a branch is dead or just dormant, scrape some of the bark away.
    Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 5 Oct. 2025
  • Once the bulb has gone dormant and all the foliage has died down, carefully dig the bulb or tuber out of the ground.
    Erica Browne Grivas, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Throughout most of modern history, it was thought that prudent government debt management involved bringing down the ratio of debt to GDP during quiescent periods of growth in order to store fiscal ammunition for the next crisis.
    Kenneth S. Rogoff, Foreign Affairs, 19 Aug. 2025
  • Khanna is one of a number of progressive congressional Democrats encouraged by the party to appear in red-district town halls in an attempt to rebut impressions that the party is quiescent in the face of Trump’s onslaught.
    Andrew Cockburn, Harpers Magazine, 16 July 2025
Adjective
  • The first signs that 2025 wouldn’t live up to Ferrari’s off-season hopes emerged in testing, when McLaren teased its advantage.
    Luke Smith, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
  • Perhaps not, and that was attributable to some of his off-field pursuits, as sports journalist Devin Gordon explains in one episode.
    Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The track opens with a provocative guitar riff, setting the stage for a fierce jungle hunt rather than a dull cat-and-mouse game.
    Billboard China, Billboard, 1 Oct. 2025
  • So much noise, apparently, that Yankees management is pressuring Ticketmaster to keep Sox fans down to a dull roar.
    Steve Buckley, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Ahead of this school year, MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius moved some central office staff to classroom teaching positions to fill vacant roles.
    Kayla Huynh, jsonline.com, 6 Oct. 2025
  • After moving to the area with his family in 2022, proprietor Andrew Pearson saw an opportunity to bring a fine dining experience to a vacant restaurant space on Main Street.
    Brennan Long, Southern Living, 4 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Jeffrey Lewis, a Middlebury Institute of International Studies missile expert, said the Sparrow variant can be equipped with an inert warhead, which may explain the limited physical damage in Doha despite the lethal force.
    Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 18 Sep. 2025
  • Microbes convert inert nitrogen and phosphorus, for example, into forms life can use to build DNA molecules.
    Katherine Bourzac, Quanta Magazine, 15 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • This significantly decreases the likelihood of collateral damage on the forces deployed by a security guarantor, allowing that partner to be a neutral and idle spectator rather than an active belligerent.
    Omar Al-Ubaydli, semafor.com, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Without judgment, integration, and discernment, the technology sits idle.
    Christopher Lind, Big Think, 7 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Inactive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inactive. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on inactive

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