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Proactive vs Responsive - What's the difference?

proactive | responsive |

As adjectives the difference between proactive and responsive

is that proactive is acting in advance to deal with an expected change or difficulty while responsive is answering, replying or responding.

proactive

English

(wikipedia proactive)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Acting in advance to deal with an expected change or difficulty
    • We can deal with each problem as it pops up, or we can take a proactive stance and try to prevent future problems.

    Usage notes

    Some consider proactive to be a buzzword, and it is associated with business-speak.The good grammar guide, by Richard Palmer, 2003, p. 157 Depending on use, alternatives include active, or “show initiative” instead of “be proactive ”.

    Synonyms

    * anticipatory * forward-looking

    Antonyms

    * reactive

    Derived terms

    * proactively * proactivity * proactiveness

    Related terms

    * proact * proactor

    References

    * The Word Detective, Issue of February 5, 2001 ----

    responsive

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Answering, replying or responding.
  • Able to receive and respond to external stimuli.
  • Using antiphons; antiphonal.
  • Susceptible to the feelings of others.
  • (obsolete) Suited to something else; correspondent.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • The vocal lay responsive to the strings.
  • (obsolete) responsible
    • (Jeremy Taylor)

    Antonyms

    * nonresponsive * unresponsive

    Derived terms

    * responsively * responsiveness * responsorial ----