Active Record is a popular term used in web development that refers to a design pattern used in software engineering. This pattern specifies that every database table is presented by a corresponding class in the database application code. This helps to reduce the amount of code needed to create, read, update, or delete data from the database. Some common synonyms for Active Record include ORM (Object-Relational Mapping), model, and persistence layer. Other related terms include data mapper, entity framework, and database abstraction layer. While these terms may have slightly different meanings, they are all used to refer to the process of mapping between objects in code and the database tables that store data.