activity

[ ak-tiv-i-tee ]

noun

, plural ac·tiv·i·ties.

1. the state or quality of being active:

   There was not much activity in the stock market today. He doesn't have enough physical activity in his life.

2. a specific deed, action, function, or sphere of action:

   social activities.

3. work, especially in elementary grades at school, that involves direct experience by the student rather than textbook study.
4. energetic activity; animation; liveliness.
5. a use of energy or force; an active movement or operation.
6. normal mental or bodily power, function, or process.
7. Physical Chemistry. the capacity of a substance to react, corrected for the loss of reactivity due to the interaction of its constituents.
8. Physics.
   1. the number of atoms of a radioactive substance that disintegrate per unit of time, usually expressed in curies.
   2. radioactivity.
9. an organizational unit or the function it performs.

activity

/ ækˈtɪvɪtɪ /

noun

1. the state or quality of being active
2. lively action or movement
3. any specific deed, action, pursuit, etc

   recreational activities

4. the number of disintegrations of a radioactive substance in a given unit of time, usually expressed in curies or disintegrations per second
5. 1. the capacity of a substance to undergo chemical change
   2. the effective concentration of a substance in a chemical system. The absolute activity of a substance B, λ B , is defined as exp (μ B RT ) where μ B is the chemical potential

Other Words From

• non·ac·tiv·i·ty noun plural nonactivities
• pre·ac·tiv·i·ty noun plural preactivities
• su·per·ac·tiv·i·ty noun plural superactivities

Word History and Origins

Origin of activity¹

First recorded in 1520–30; from Middle French or directly from Medieval Latin āctīvitās; active, -ity

Example Sentences

The first test of McDonnell’s approach as chief is likely to be MacArthur Park, where crime, gang activity, homelessness and drug use have festered.

From Los Angeles Times

In 2003, during his previous stint with the LAPD, McDonnell helped clean up the park, but he concedes it’s in “pretty desperate straits” today, calling it “a magnet for activity that has been detrimental to the neighborhood.”

From Los Angeles Times

As we spoke, I thought about the surging activity I’d been seeing online.

From Salon

They were all part of what the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center described as a marked uptick in white supremacist activity, a small but growing portion of which is environmentally focused.

From Salon

Neuralink, which has raised more than $600 million in venture capital, has developed an implant the size of a coin with tiny wires that record brain activity.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• act
• endeavor
• enterprise
• job
• project
• scheme
• task
• venture
• work