proactive
Acting in advance to deal with an expected change or difficulty.
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.
- Staff are also proactive in approaching any passengers looking as though they need assistance, rather than waiting to be approached. - 2019 December 4, Andy Coward, “Derby's crowning achievement”, in Rail, page 56:
Origin
From 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.