different between diligence vs proactive

English

Etymology

From French diligence.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?l?d??ns/
• Hyphenation: di?li?gence
• The stage-coach sense may be pronounced as in French.

Noun

diligence (countable and uncountable, plural diligences)

1. Steady application; industry; careful work involving long-term effort.
2. The qualities of a hard worker, including conscientiousness, determination, and perseverance.
3. Carefulness.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   due diligence

4. (historical, 19th century) A public stage-coach.
   • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Volume 1, Chapter V:

     Continuing thus, I came at length opposite to the inn at which the various diligences and carriages usually stopped.
5. (law, Scotland) The process by which persons, lands, or effects are seized for debt; process for enforcing the attendance of witnesses or the production of writings.

Synonyms

• worksomeness (rare)

Derived terms

• due diligence

Translations

Anagrams

• ceilinged

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French diligence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?di.li???ns/, /?di.li???n.s?/
• Hyphenation: di?li?gen?ce

Noun

diligence f (plural diligences)

1. (historical) A diligence, a stage-coach.

   Synonym: postkoets

French

Etymology

From Latin diligentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.li.???s/

Noun

diligence f (countable and uncountable, plural diligences)

1. (uncountable) diligence, conscientiousness
2. (uncountable) haste
3. (countable) stage-coach, diligence

Derived terms

• faire diligence

Related terms

• diligent

Descendants

• ? Dutch: diligence

Further reading

• “diligence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

pro- +? active; originally coined 1933 by Paul Whiteley and Gerald Blankfort in a psychology paper, used in technical sense. Used in a popular context and sense (courage, perseverance) in 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning by neuropsychiatrist Viktor Emil Frankl, in the context of dealing with the Holocaust, as contrast with reactive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p????ækt?v/
• Rhymes: -ækt?v

Adjective

proactive (comparative more proactive, superlative most proactive)

1. Acting in advance to deal with an expected change or difficulty

Usage notes

Some consider proactive to be a buzzword, and it is associated with business-speak.

Depending on use, alternatives include active, preemptive, or “show initiative” instead of “be proactive”.

Synonyms

• anticipatory
• forward-looking

Antonyms

• reactive

Derived terms

• proactively
• proactivity
• proaction
• proactiveness

Related terms

• preactive
• proact
• proactor

Translations

References

• The Word Detective, Issue of February 5, 2001

French

Adjective

proactive

1. feminine singular of proactif