activity

English

Etymology

From Middle French activité, from Latin activitas. Equivalent to active +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ækˈtɪv.ɪ.tiː/

  • Audio (UK, male voice):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ækˈtɪv.ɪ.ti/, [ækˈtɪv.ɪ.ɾi], /ækˈtɪv.ə.ti/, [ækˈtɪv.ə.ɾi]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪvɪti

Noun

activity (countable and uncountable, plural activities)

1. (uncountable) The state or quality of being active; activeness.

   Pit row was abuzz with activity.

2. (countable) Something done as an action or a movement.

   Synonyms: pursuit, undertaking; see also Thesaurus:activity

   The activity for the morning was a walk to the store.

3. (countable) Something done for pleasure or entertainment, especially one involving movement or an excursion.

   An increasing number of sports activities are on offer at the university.

   Quilting can be an enjoyable activity.

   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

4. (grammar, semantics) The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that change over time and have no natural end point.
   • 1997, Robert van Valin, Randy LaPolla, Syntax‎^[1], page 92:

     […] distinctions among states of affairs are reflected to a striking degree in distinctions among Aktionsart types. That is, situations are expressed by state verbs or predicates, events by achievement verbs or predicates, and actions by activity verbs or predicates.

5. (physics) The number of radioactive decays per unit time. Unit for it: becquerel or curie
6. The property of substances to react with other substances

Antonyms

• rest
• passivity

Derived terms

• activities of daily living
• activity book
• activity group psychotherapy
• activity stream
• activity theory
• activity trap
• autoactivity
• beehive of activity
• bioactivity
• catalytic activity
• coactivity
• counteractivity
• crifanac
• cyberactivity
• cytoactivity
• dark-activity
• displacement activity
• electroactivity
• extravehicular activity
• fanac
• funtivity
• hectivity
• hive of activity
• hyperactivity
• hypoactivity
• ichnoactivity
• immunoactivity
• inactivity
• interactivity
• mechanoactivity
• microactivity
• minac
• multiactivity
• myoactivity
• neuroactivity
• nonactivity
• normoactivity
• optical activity
• overactivity
• pharmacoactivity
• photoactivity
• piezoactivity
• preactivity
• pulseless electrical activity
• radioactivity
• Raman optical activity
• role activity diagram
• self-activity
• seroactivity
• snacktivity
• specific activity
• subactivity
• superactivity
• surrogate activity
• thermoactivity
• ultrahazardous activity
• underactivity
• vacuum activity
• vasoactivity
• zone of polarizing activity

Collocations

Adjectives often used with "activity"

• increased, decreased, high, low, volcanic, seismic, eruptive, intellectual, physical, mental, spiritual, muscular, cerebral, favorite, recreational, practical, cultural, artistic, literary, musical, political, diplomatic, military, domestic, voluntary, missionary, chemical, optical, productive, reproductive, industrial, commercial, etc.

Translations

state or quality of being active

• Albanian: aktivitet (sq) f
• Arabic: نَشَاط (ar) m (našāṭ)
• Armenian: գործունեություն (hy) (gorcuneutʻyun)
• Asturian: actividá f
• Azerbaijani: fəaliyyət (az), fəallıq, aktivlik
• Bulgarian: акти́вност (bg) f (aktívnost)
• Catalan: activitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 活動 / 活动 (zh) (huódòng)

• Czech: aktivita (cs) f, čilost f
• Danish: aktivitet c
• Dutch: activiteit (nl) f, actief (nl) f
• Esperanto: aktiveco sg
• Estonian: aktiivsus
• Finnish: aktiivisuus (fi), toiminta (fi)
• French: activité (fr) f
• Galician: actividade (gl) f
• Georgian: მოქმედება f (mokmedeba)
• German: Aktivität (de) f
• Greek: δραστηριότητα (el) f (drastiriótita)

  Ancient: ἐνέργεια f (enérgeia)

• Hebrew: פְּעִילוּת (he) f (p'ilút), מַעַשׂ (he) m (má`as) (rare)
• Hungarian: elfoglaltság (hu)
• Irish: fuadar m
• Italian: attività (it) f
• Japanese: 活動 (ja) (かつどう, katsudō)
• Kazakh: белсенділік (belsendılık)
• Korean: 활동(活動) (ko) (hwaldong)
• Kyrgyz: ишмерлик (işmerlik)
• Latin: actiō (la) f
• Latvian: aktivitāte f
• Lithuanian: aktyvùmas m
• Malay: kegiatan (ms), aktiviti (ms) (Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei), aktivitas (ms) (Riau and Sumatra)
• Malayalam: പ്രവർത്തനം (ml) (pravaṟttanaṁ)
• Maori: ngohe, hohenga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: aktivitet (no) m, virksomhet (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: aktivitet m

• Persian: فعالیت (fa) (fa'âliyat)
• Polish: aktywność (pl) f
• Portuguese: atividade (pt) f
• Romanian: activitate (ro) f
• Russian: де́ятельность (ru) f (déjatelʹnostʹ), акти́вность (ru) f (aktívnostʹ)
• Sardinian:

  Logudorese: faìna

• Slovak: aktivita f, ruch m
• Slovene: aktívnost f, dejávnost (sl) f
• Spanish: actividad (es) f
• Swedish: aktivitet (sv) c, verksamhet (sv) c
• Tagalog: kabilusan
• Turkish: aktivite (tr)
• Ukrainian: дія́льність (uk) f (dijálʹnistʹ), акти́вність (uk) f (aktývnistʹ)
• Vietnamese: hoạt động (vi)

something done as an action or a movement

• Armenian: գործունեություն (hy) (gorcuneutʻyun)
• Asturian: actividá f
• Bulgarian: де́йност (bg) f (déjnost)
• Catalan: activitat (ca) f
• Central Mazahua: b'ɇpji
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 動作 / 动作 (zh) (dòngzuò)

• Czech: činnost (cs) f
• Danish: aktivitet c
• Dutch: activiteit (nl) f, beweging (nl) f, werkzaamheid (nl) f
• Egyptian: (st-ꜥ f)
• Esperanto: aktivaĵo sg
• Estonian: tegevus
• Finnish: aktiviteetti (fi), tekeminen (fi), toiminta (fi)
• French: activité (fr) f
• Galician: actividade (gl) f
• Georgian: აქტიურობა f (akṭiuroba)
• German: Aktivität (de) f, Handlung (de) f, Tätigkeit (de) f
• Greek: δράση (el) f (drási)

  Ancient: ἐνέργεια f (enérgeia)

• Hebrew: פְּעִילוּת (he) f (p'ilút)
• Hungarian: tevékenység (hu)
• Indonesian: kegiatan (id), aktivitas (id)
• Italian: attività (it) f
• Japanese: 活動 (ja) (かつどう, katsudō)
• Korean: 활동(活動) (ko) (hwaldong)
• Malay: kegiatan (ms), aktiviti (ms) (Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei), aktivitas (ms) (Riau and Sumatra)
• Malayalam: പ്രയോഗം (ml) (prayōgaṁ), പ്രവൃത്തി (ml) (pravr̥tti)
• Maltese: attività f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: aktivitet (no) m

  Nynorsk: aktivitet m

• Polish: aktywność (pl) f
• Portuguese: atividade (pt) f
• Romanian: activitate (ro) f
• Russian: де́йствие (ru) f (déjstvije), мероприя́тие (ru) f (meroprijátije), де́ло (ru) f (délo)
• Sanskrit: प्रयोगः (sa) m (prayogaḥ)
• Sardinian:

  Logudorese: faìna

• Scots: acteevity
• Scottish Gaelic: gnìomhachd f
• Semai: ektiviti, ektiviti
• Slovak: činnosť f, aktivita f
• Slovene: aktívnost f, dejávnost (sl) f
• Spanish: actividad (es) f
• Swedish: aktivitet (sv) c, sysselsättning (sv)
• Thai: การเคลื่อนไหว (th) (gaan-klʉ̂ʉan-wǎi)
• Tigrinya: ንጥፈት (nəṭfät)
• Ukrainian: акти́вність (uk) f (aktývnistʹ), дія́льність (uk) f (dijálʹnistʹ)
• Welsh: gweithgaredd (cy) m

something done for pleasure or entertainment

• Bulgarian: акти́вност (bg) f (aktívnost)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 活動 / 活动 (zh) (huódòng)

• Czech: aktivita (cs) f
• Danish: aktivitet c
• Dutch: activiteit (nl) f
• Finnish: aktiviteetti (fi), toiminta (fi), tekeminen (fi)
• French: activité (fr) f
• Galician: actividade (gl) f
• German: Aktivität (de) f, Unternehmung (de) f
• Greek: δραστηριότητα (el) f (drastiriótita)
• Hebrew: פְּעִילוּת (he) f (p'ilút)
• Indonesian: kegiatan (id), aktivitas (id)
• Italian: attività (it) f, svago (it) m
• Japanese: 活動 (ja) (かつどう, katsudō)
• Korean: 활동(活動) (ko) (hwaldong)
• Malayalam: പ്രവൃത്തി (ml) (pravr̥tti)
• Maltese: attività f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: aktivitet (no) m

  Nynorsk: aktivitet m

• Polish: działalność (pl) f
• Portuguese: atividade (pt) f
• Romanian: activitate (ro) f
• Russian: де́ло (ru) f (délo), заня́тие (ru) f (zanjátije)
• Sardinian:

  Logudorese: faìna

• Scots: acteevity
• Scottish Gaelic: spòrs f, gnìomhachd f
• Slovak: aktivita f, koníček m, záľuba f
• Spanish: actividad (es) f
• Swedish: aktivitet (sv) c, sysselsättning (sv) c
• Thai: กิจกรรม (th) (gìt-jà-gam)
• Turkish: aktivite (tr)
• Ukrainian: дія́льність (uk) f (dijálʹnistʹ)

property of substances to react with other substances

• French: activité (fr)
• German: Aktivität (de)
• Italian: attività (it)
• Portuguese: actividade (pt)
• Spanish: actividad (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} activitate
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} gníomhaíocht f
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} アクティビティー (akutibitī)
• Norman: ^{(please verify)} tinné m (Jersey)
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} dunöf

Further reading

• “activity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “activity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.