Words / P / Medicine

proactive

/prəʊˈæktɪv/

B1CEFR level
30/100Rarity: fairly common
TechnicalRegister

Medicine adjective

Acting in anticipation of a problem rather than only responding once it occurs.

Being proactive, I've already booked the review so the night team don't have to chase it.

Similar: anticipatory

Topic: Clinical handover in Medical English

Business adjective

Acting in anticipation of a customer's needs rather than waiting for problems.

A proactive CSM flags churn risk months before the customer ever thinks of leaving.

Similar: anticipatory, pre-emptive

Topic: Sales in Business English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More medicine words: Clinical handover