activity

[ak-tiv-i-tee]

noun

plural

activities 

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 Word Forms

• nonactivity noun
• preactivity noun
• superactivity noun

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

International law says the military cannot kill civilians unless they pose an imminent threat of violence, even if engaging in criminal activity.

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At the time Vucic had been working as a journalist and translator in nearby Pale "without any contact with military structures or operational activities", she said.

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A second significant amount of seismic activity came moments later when the final whistle sounded on Wednesday night.

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Asked what money-related activity brought them the most happiness, one in eight respondents said they didn’t know.

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Asked what money-related activity brought them the most happiness, one in eight respondents said they didn’t know.

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Related Words

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