Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Proactive for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Today's word is "Proactive" — adjective, pronounced /prəʊˈæktɪv/, with the stress on "ac".
Narrator: Proactive means taking action to control a situation before it happens, rather than reacting later.
Narrator: In plain English, proactive people act first.
Narrator: It combines pro, before, with active, and was popularised in the twentieth century.
Narrator: A common collocation is "a proactive approach", which describes planning ahead.
Narrator: It differs from "reactive", because reactive means responding after something happens.
Narrator: In customer service, proactive support contacts customers before they complain.
Narrator: Business, healthcare, IT and coaching all rely on the word.
Narrator: So remember: proactive means getting ahead of events.
Speaker A: Why do job adverts ask for proactive people?
Speaker B: Because they spot problems early! PROACTIVE combines pro, before, with active.
Speaker A: So not waiting for orders?
Speaker B: Exactly.
Speaker A: Example sentences?
Speaker B: "Be proactive about your health", early action. "The team took proactive steps", planning. "Proactive monitoring caught the fault", IT.
Speaker A: Common mistakes?
Speaker B: Write proactive as one word without a hyphen, and avoid overusing it in CVs.
Speaker A: Close relatives?
Speaker B: Forward-thinking is its cousin, enterprising is its twin, and preventive is the careful alternative, but proactive keeps its go-getting charm!
Speaker B: Let's use "proactive" in AI prompts — useful for customer success tools and monitoring.
Speaker A: How would customer success use it?
Speaker B: Reach out early.
Prompt: Write a proactive email to customers whose usage dropped by half, offering help.
Speaker A: And monitoring?
Speaker B: Alert before failure.
Prompt: Set up proactive alerts that warn when disk usage will hit full within seven days.
Speaker A: Could it help CVs?
Speaker B: Yes, evidence.
Prompt: Rewrite my claim of being proactive with a specific example and a result.
Speaker A: One more?
Speaker B: Health apps.
Prompt: Suggest proactive reminders for staying hydrated during a heatwave.
Proactive — meaning in Arabic & definition More P courses GL Dictionary