proactive
proactive Lexical Profile
proactive Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened (of a person, policy, or action).
"The health department took a proactive approach to preventing the seasonal flu outbreak."
Relating to a mental process in which previously learned material or experiences influence the learning or recall of subsequent material (in psychology).
"Speaking a second language fluently can sometimes cause proactive interference when trying to learn a third."
• Rhymes for proactive
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the 1930s by psychologist Paul L. Whiteley and Gerald Blankfort from the Greek prefix pro- ('before') and English active, originally as an antonym to retroactive in the study of memory and learning before entering general usage via Viktor Frankl's 1946 book Man's Search for Meaning.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.