Synonyms: inactive, idle, inert, passive, dormant, torpid, supine
These adjectives mean not involved in or disposed to movement or activity. Inactive simply indicates absence of activity: retired but not inactive; an inactive factory.
Idle refers to persons who are not doing anything or are not busy: employees idle because of the strike.
It also refers to what is not in use or operation: idle machinery.
Inert describes things powerless to move themselves or to produce a desired effect; applied to persons, it implies lethargy or sluggishness, especially of mind or spirit: The Honorable Mrs. Jamieson . . . was fat and inert, and very much at the mercy of her old servants (Elizabeth C. Gaskell).
Passive implies being reactive instead of proactive: in an hour like this, when the mind has a passive sensibility, but no active strength (Nathaniel Hawthorne).
Dormant refers principally to a state of suspended activity but often implies the possibility of renewal: dormant feelings of affection.
Torpid suggests sluggishness or apathy: It is a mans own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in old age (Samuel Johnson).
Supine implies abject lack of will: No other colony showed such supine, selfish helplessness in allowing her own border citizens to be mercilessly harried (Theodore Roosevelt).