See inactive in American Heritage Dictionary 4 Synonyms
inactive idle inert passive dormant torpid supine
These adjectives mean not involved in or disposed to movement or activity. Inactive simply 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 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).
Passive implies being reactive instead of proactive: “in an hour like this, when the mind has a passive sensibility, but no active strength” (Nathaniel Hawthorne).
Dormant refers principally to a state of suspended activity but often implies the possibility of renewal: dormant feelings of affection.
Torpid suggests sluggishness or apathy: “It is a man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in old age” (Samuel Johnson).
Supine implies abject lack of will: “No other colony showed such supine, selfish helplessness in allowing her own border citizens to be mercilessly harried” (Theodore Roosevelt).
See inactive in Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus II
adjective
Marked by a lack of action or activity:
idle, inert, inoperative. See actionNot occupied or put to use:
idle, unemployed, unused, vacant. See usedExisting in a temporarily inactive form or state:
abeyant, dormant, latent, quiescent, sleeping. See action, show
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