proactive

English

Etymology

pro- +‎ active; originally coined 1933 by Paul Whiteley and Gerald Blankfort in a psychology paper, used in technical sense. Used in a popular context and sense (courage, perseverance) in 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning by neuropsychiatrist Viktor Emil Frankl, in the context of dealing with the Holocaust, as contrast with reactive.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹəʊˈæk.tɪv/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹoʊˈæk.tɪv/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æktɪv

Adjective

proactive (comparative more proactive, superlative most proactive)

1. Acting in advance to deal with an expected change or difficulty

   We can deal with each problem as it pops up, or we can take a proactive stance and try to prevent future problems.

   • 2019 December 4, Andy Coward, “Derby's crowning achievement”, in Rail, page 56:

     Staff are also proactive in approaching any passengers looking as though they need assistance, rather than waiting to be approached.

Usage notes

Some consider proactive to be a buzzword, and it is associated with business-speak.

Depending on use, alternatives include active, preemptive, or “show initiative” instead of “be proactive”.

Synonyms

• anticipatory
• forward-looking

Antonyms

• reactive

Derived terms

• proactively
• proactivity
• proaction
• proactiveness

Related terms

• preactive
• proact
• proactor

Translations

acting in advance

• Arabic: وِقَائِيّ (wiqāʔiyy), استباق الْأَحْدَاث
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 積極／积极 (zh) (jījí), 主動／主动 (zh) (zhǔdòng)

• Czech: proaktivní
• Danish: proaktiv (da)
• Dutch: proactief (nl)
• Finnish: proaktiivinen, ennakoiva (fi)
• French: proactif (fr)
• German: proaktiv (de)
• Greek: προενεργός m (proenergós)
• Hungarian: előrelátó (hu), proaktív (hu)
• Italian: proattivo (it)
• Japanese: 先取りした
• Korean: 주도적 (ko) (judojeok)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: proaktiv (no)

  Nynorsk: proaktiv

• Occitan: proactiu
• Persian: پیش فعال
• Portuguese: proativo (pt)
• Romanian: proactiv
• Russian: проактивный (ru) (proaktivnyj), упреждающий (ru) (upreždajuščij)
• Serbo-Croatian: proaktivan
• Spanish: proactivo (es), precavida (es), preventiva (es)
• Swedish: förebyggande (sv), proaktiv (sv)
• Telugu: ముందెత్తున (mundettuna)
• Thai: การป้องกัน(ล่วงหน้า) (gaan-bpɔ̂ng-gan(lûuang-nâa))
• Turkish: ilerici (tr)
• Ukrainian: проактивний (proaktyvnyj), запобігливий (zapobihlyvyj)

References

• The Word Detective, Issue of February 5, 2001

French

Adjective

proactive

1. feminine singular of proactif