Idioms

active

Also found in: Dictionary, Medical, Legal, Financial, Acronyms, Encyclopedia.

active duty

1. Current, full-time service in the military. My son is in the army, and I worry so much when he's on active duty. Wow, how long were you in the Middle East on active duty? Jenny is so relieved that her husband is back from active duty.
2. By extension, full-time service in another area of life. I'm still on active duty until I retire at the end of the month. Phil hasn't been cleared for active duty yet, so, yeah, he's still out injured. Unfortunately, the time you spent here as an unpaid intern does not count as active duty in terms of service time.
See also: active, duty

active shooter

A perpetrator (of a potential mass shooting) who is actively shooting at people, typically targeting victims in a crowded and confined space. If there is a report of an active shooter, police aim to respond within minutes. We've gotten reports of an active shooter, so no civilians are allowed into the building right now. The police were quick to respond to the active shooter situation and disarm the attacker.
See also: active, shooter

on active duty

Serving in the military full time, especially being in or prepared to go into battle. My son is in the army, and I worry so much when he's on active duty. After being on active duty for so long, I don't feel fully comfortable being a civilian anymore.
See also: active, duty, on
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

on active duty

in battle or ready to go into battle. (Military.) The soldier was on active duty for ten months. That was a long time to be on active duty.
See also: active, duty, on
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

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]
See also: active, duty
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
See also:
References in periodicals archive
Al-Ameen Islamic Active Allocation Plan - VIII###August 27, 2019###75.4090###75.4090
The latest active job openings-to-applicants ratio, at the time when this article was written, was 1.43 times for February 2017.
To correctly evaluate findings from the various surveys, transportation agencies need to have an understanding of the strengths, limitations, and lack of comparability of the techniques used to assess active transportation.
Blass Employment Corporation, will continue to operate under the Active Staffing Services banner, and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Active Staffing Services.
It has long been known that HIV-negative people with a prior history of active TB have a high risk of experiencing recurrence of active disease.
if we allow a PSA to go above 20 in men on active surveillance before we recommend active treatment, we will be treating only high-risk patients who have progressed on active surveillance.
Kane said that also included in the guidance was the establishment of an observer/controller/mentor relationship between the active and reserves that is focused on realistic training to standard that will prepare all SDDC units for their worldwide missions.
Parental Active Involvement was assessed with items such as "How often parents checks homework?" and "How often parents help with homework?" The Parental Active Involvement Scale has a reliability Cronbach's alpha of .71 (M = 2.74, SD = .80).
367(a) rules, PLC or its subsidiary must have an active business outside the U.S.
Since its introduction in Windows 2000, Microsoft's Active Directory has improved the way organizations share network resources such as users, groups, computers, printers, applications, and files.
LogicalApps, a provider of embedded governance software for enterprise applications, has brought out its new ACTIVE Governance solution.
The board will evaluate active duty line officers in the 2002 and 2003 accession year groups--except officers with less than two years' current active service or 15 or more years' active service as of Sept.
Copyright © 2003-2025 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.