active duty
- the status of full-time service: on active duty.
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Also called active service.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for active duty
Contemporary Examples
Active-duty spies would read him and they talked to him, and often it was hard to tell where fiction and fact diverged.
This Sexy Thriller Is Just the Document the Benghazi Commission NeedsChristopher Dickey
September 15, 2014
In an active-duty force of 1.1 million, this equals a reported assault rate of 3.8 per 1,000 service members.
Active-duty personnel alone amount to more than 1.3 million people, augmented by another 800,000 reservists.
The defense ministry has also announced plans to create a million-man, active-duty army by 2020.
There are over 200,000 active-duty women serving in the armed forces, or about 15 percent of the force.
Idioms and Phrases with active duty
active duty
Full-time service, as in Julian is 81, but he still comes to the office every day and is very much on active duty. This term comes from the military, where it stands in opposition to reserve, which refers to troops still in the military but not actively engaged. It is occasionally transferred to civilian matters as well. [First half of 1800s]
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.