a. [ Cf. F. abstractif. ] Having the power of abstracting; of an abstracting nature. “The abstractive faculty.” I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a abstract manner; separately; in or by itself. Feltham. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being abstractive; abstractive property. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. actif, L. activus, fr. agere to act. ] 1. Having the power or quality of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting; -- opposed to passive, that receives; as, certain active principles; the powers of the mind. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Quick in physical movement; of an agile and vigorous body; nimble; as, an active child or animal. [ 1913 Webster ]

Active and nervous was his gait. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. In action; actually proceeding; working; in force; -- opposed to quiescent, dormant, or extinct; as, active laws; active hostilities; an active volcano. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Given to action; constantly engaged in action; energetic; diligent; busy; -- opposed to dull, sluggish, indolent, or inert; as, an active man of business; active mind; active zeal. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Requiring or implying action or exertion; -- opposed to sedentary or to tranquil; as, active employment or service; active scenes. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Given to action rather than contemplation; practical; operative; -- opposed to speculative or theoretical; as, an active rather than a speculative statesman. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Brisk; lively; as, an active demand for corn. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Implying or producing rapid action; as, an active disease; an active remedy. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Gram.) (a) Applied to a form of the verb; -- opposed to passive. See Active voice, under Voice. (b) Applied to verbs which assert that the subject acts upon or affects something else; transitive. (c) Applied to all verbs that express action as distinct from mere existence or state. [ 1913 Webster ]

Active capital,
Active wealth, money, or property that may readily be converted into money. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Agile; alert; brisk; vigorous; nimble; lively; quick; sprightly; prompt; energetic. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. In an active manner; nimbly; briskly; energetically; also, by one's own action; voluntarily, not passively. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Gram.) In an active signification; as, a word used actively. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being active; nimbleness; quickness of motion; activity. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Counteracting, or preserving from, putrefaction; antiseptic. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. attractif. ] 1. Having the power or quality of attracting or drawing; as, the attractive force of bodies. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Attracting or drawing by moral influence or pleasurable emotion; alluring; inviting; pleasing. “Attractive graces.” Milton. “Attractive eyes.” Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

Flowers of a livid yellow, or fleshy color, are most attractive to flies. Lubbock. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- At*tract"ive*ly, adv. -- At*tract"ive*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. That which attracts or draws; an attraction; an allurement. [ 1913 Webster ]

Speaks nothing but attractives and invitation. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. acting upon or influencing bodily functions; -- of chemical substances.
Syn. -- pharmacological. [ PJC ]

a. See Calefactory. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Physiol.) Producing, or converting into, chyle; having the power to form chyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ In sense 1, fr. 1st Coact; in sense 2, fr. 2d Coact. ] 1. Serving to compel or constrain; compulsory; restrictive. [ 1913 Webster ]

Any coactive power or the civil kind. Bp. Warburton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Acting in concurrence; united in action. [ 1913 Webster ]

With what's unreal thou coactive art. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a coactive manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to contract; having the property or power or power of contracting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, counteracts. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to counteract. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By counteraction. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Tending to detractor draw. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Tending to lower in estimation; depreciative. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being detractive. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That produces diffraction.

a. Causing perplexity; distracting. “Distractive thoughts.” Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having power to enact or establish as a law. Abp. Bramhall. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. excalfacere to warm; ex out (intens.) + calfacere to warm. ] Serving to heat; warming. [ Obs. ] Cotgrave. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. extractif. ] 1. Capable of being extracted. “Thirty grains of extractive matter.” Kirwan. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Tending or serving to extract or draw out. [ 1913 Webster ]

Certain branches of industry are conveniently designated extractive: e.g., agriculture, pastoral and mining pursuits, cutting of lumber, etc. Cairnes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Anything extracted; an extract. [ 1913 Webster ]

Extractives, of which the most constant are urea, kreatin, and grape sugar. H. N. Martin. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Chem.) (a) A chemical principle once supposed to exist in all extracts. [ Obs. ] (b) Any one of a large class of substances obtained by extraction, and consisting largely of nitrogenous hydrocarbons, such as xanthin, hypoxanthin, and creatin extractives from muscle tissue. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Making; having power to make. [ Obs. ] “You are . . . factive, not destructive.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Cooling. [ Obs. ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Exhibiting hyperactivity. [ PJC ]

a. [ Pref. in- not + active: cf. F. inactif. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Not active; having no power to move; that does not or can not produce results; inert; as, matter is, of itself, inactive. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not disposed to action or effort; not diligent or industrious; not busy; idle; as, an inactive officer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Chem. & Opt.) Not exhibiting any action or activity on polarized light; optically inactive; optically neutral; -- said of isomeric forms of certain substances, in distinction from other forms which are optically active; as, racemic acid is an inactive tartaric acid. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Chem. & Biochem.) Lacking biological or biochemical activity; not causing a specific biological or biochemical effect; -- said of substances such as enzymes which have lost their catalytic power, or of small molecules which are tested for some type of biological activity and found to lack that activity; as, after boiling for ten minutes, the enzyme was totally inactive; the methyl analog was inactive as an antibiotic. [ PJC ]

Syn. -- Inert; dull; sluggish; idle; indolent; slothful; lazy. See Inert. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an inactive manner. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Stupefactive. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. See Olfactory, a. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having the quality of converting organic matter into stone; petrifying. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pertaining to, or characterized by, petrifaction. [ 1913 Webster ]

The . . . petrifactive mutations of hard bodies. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Doing; active. [ Obs. ] Sylvester. -- Prac"tive*ly, adv. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

The preacher and the people both,
Then practively did thrive. Warner. [1913 Webster]

a. Drawing out or lengthening in time; prolonging; continuing; delaying. [ 1913 Webster ]

He suffered their protractive arts. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. putréfactif. See Putrefy. ] 1. Of or pertaining to putrefaction; as, the putrefactive smell or process. Wiseman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Causing, or tending to promote, putrefaction. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Pu``tre*fac"tive*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

a. [ Radio- + active. ] 1. (Physics) Capable of luminescence under the action of cathode rays, X rays, or any of the allied forms of radiation. [ obsolete ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Physics) of, exhibiting, or caused by radioactivity. [ PJC ]

a. [ Cf. F. réactif. ] Having power to react; tending to reaction; of the nature of reaction. -- Re*act"ive*ly, adv. -- Re*act"ive*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. réfractif. See Refract. ] Serving or having power to refract, or turn from a direct course; pertaining to refraction; as, refractive surfaces; refractive powers. [ 1913 Webster ]

Refractive index. (Opt.) See Index of refraction, under Index. --
Absolute refractive index (Opt.), the index of refraction of a substances when the ray passes into it from a vacuum. --
Relative refractive index (of two media) (Opt.), the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction for a ray passing out of one of the media into the other. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or condition of being refractive. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Serving to retract; of the nature of a retraction. -- Re*tract"ive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. That which retracts, or withdraws. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. rétroactif. ] Fitted or designed to retroact; operating by returned action; affecting what is past; retrospective. Beddoes. [ 1913 Webster ]

Retroactive law or
Retroactive statute (Law), one which operates to make criminal or punishable, or in any way expressly to affect, acts done prior to the passing of the law. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a retroactive manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Satisfactory. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Satisfactive discernment of fish. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Acting of one's self or of itself; acting without depending on other agents. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & n. [ Cf. F. stupéfactif, LL. stupefactivus. ] Same as Stupefacient. [ Written also stupifactive. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Tending, or having power, to subtract. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) Having the negative sign, or sign minus. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Serving to draw; pulling; attracting; as, tractive power. [ 1913 Webster ]