Adjacent Words

Passive definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

P`ASSIVE, a. [L. passivus, from passus, patior, to suffer.]
1. Suffering; not acting, receiving or capable of receiving impressions from external agents. We were passive spectators, not actors in the scene.
The mind is wholly passive in the reception of all its simple ideas.
God is not in any respect passive.
2. Unresisting; not opposing; receiving or suffering without resistance; as passive obedience; passive submission to the laws.
Passive verb, in grammar, is a verb which expresses passion, or the effect of an action of some agent; as in L. doceor, I am taught; in English, she is loved and admired by her friends; he is assailed by slander.
Passive obedience, as used by writers on government, denotes not only quiet unresting submission to power, but implies the denial of the right of resistance, or the recognition of the duty to submit in all cases to the existing government.
Passive prayer, among mystic divines, is suspension of the activity of the soul or intellectual faculties, the soul remaining quiet and yielding only to the impulses of grace.
Passive commerce, trade in which the productions of a country are carried by foreigners in their own bottoms. [See Active commerce.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: lacking in energy or will; "Much benevolence of the passive order may be traced to a disinclination to inflict pain upon oneself"- George Meredith [syn: passive, inactive] [ant: active]
2: peacefully resistant in response to injustice; "passive resistance" [syn: passive, peaceful]
3: expressing that the subject of the sentence is the patient of the action denoted by the verb; "academics seem to favor passive sentences" [ant: active] n
1: the voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is the recipient (not the source) of the action denoted by the verb; "`The ball was thrown by the boy' uses the passive voice"; "`The ball was thrown' is an abbreviated passive" [syn: passive voice, passive] [ant: active, active voice]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin passivus, from passus, past participle Date: 14th century 1. a. (1) acted upon by an external agency (2) receptive to outside impressions or influences b. (1) asserting that the grammatical subject of a verb is subjected to or affected by the action represented by that verb <the passive voice> (2) containing or yielding a passive verb form c. (1) lacking in energy or will ; lethargic (2) tending not to take an active or dominant part d. induced by an outside agency <passive exercise of a paralyzed leg> 2. a. not active or operating ; inert b. of, relating to, or making direct use of the sun's heat usually without the intervention of mechanical devices <a passive solar house> c. latent d. (1) of, relating to, or characterized by a state of chemical inactivity; especially resistant to corrosion (2) not involving expenditure of chemical energy <passive transport across a cell membrane> e. of an electronic element exhibiting no gain or control f. relating to the detection of an object through its emission of energy or sound <passive sonar> 3. a. receiving or enduring without resistance ; submissive b. existing or occurring without being active, open, or direct <passive support> 4. of, relating to, or being business activity in which the investor does not actively participate in the generation of income Synonyms: see inactive • passively adverb • passiveness noun • passivity noun II. noun Date: 1530 1. a passive verb form 2. the passive voice of a language

U.S. Military Dictionary

(*) In surveillance, an adjective applied to actions or equipments which emit no energy capable of being detected.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 suffering action; acted upon. 2 offering no opposition; submissive. 3 a not active; inert. b (of a metal) abnormally unreactive. 4 Gram. designating the voice in which the subject undergoes the action of the verb (e.g. in they were killed). 5 (of a debt) incurring no interest payment. Phrases and idioms: passive obedience 1 surrender to another's will without cooperation. 2 compliance with commands irrespective of their nature. passive resistance a non-violent refusal to cooperate. passive smoking the involuntary inhaling, esp. by a non-smoker, of smoke from others' cigarettes etc. Derivatives: passively adv. passiveness n. passivity n. Etymology: ME f. OF passif -ive or L passivus (as PASSION)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Passive Pas"sive, a. [L. passivus: cf. F. passif. See Passion.] 1. Not active, but acted upon; suffering or receiving impressions or influences; as, they were passive spectators, not actors in the scene. The passive air Upbore their nimble tread. --Milton. The mind is wholly passive in the reception of all its simple ideas. --Locke. 2. Receiving or enduring without either active sympathy or active resistance; without emotion or excitement; patient; not opposing; unresisting; as, passive obedience; passive submission. The best virtue, passive fortitude. --Massinger. 3. (Chem.) Inactive; inert; not showing strong affinity; as, red phosphorus is comparatively passive. 4. (Med.) Designating certain morbid conditions, as hemorrhage or dropsy, characterized by relaxation of the vessels and tissues, with deficient vitality and lack of reaction in the affected tissues. Passive congestion (Med.), congestion due to obstruction to the return of the blood from the affected part. Passive iron (Chem.), iron which has been subjected to the action of heat, of strong nitric acid, chlorine, etc. It is then not easily acted upon by acids. Passive movement (Med.), a movement of a part, in order to exercise it, made without the assistance of the muscles which ordinarily move the part. Passive obedience (as used by writers on government), obedience or submission of the subject or citizen as a duty in all cases to the existing government. Passive prayer, among mystic divines, a suspension of the activity of the soul or intellectual faculties, the soul remaining quiet, and yielding only to the impulses of grace. Passive verb, or Passive voice (Gram.), a verb, or form of a verb, which expresses the effect of the action of some agent; as, in Latin, doceor, I am taught; in English, she is loved; the picture is admired by all; he is assailed by slander. Syn: Inactive; inert; quiescent; unresisting; unopposing; suffering; enduring; submissive; patient.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If you describe someone as passive, you mean that they do not take action but instead let things happen to them. His passive attitude made things easier for me... ? active ADJ [disapproval] • passively He sat there passively, content to wait for his father to make the opening move. ADV: usu ADV with v • passivity ...the passivity of the public under the military occupation. N-UNCOUNT 2. A passive activity involves watching, looking at, or listening to things rather than doing things. They want less passive ways of filling their time. ? active ADJ: ADJ n 3. Passive resistance involves showing opposition to the people in power in your country by not co-operating with them and protesting in non-violent ways. They made it clear that they would only exercise passive resistance in the event of a military takeover. ? active ADJ: ADJ n 4. In grammar, the passive or the passive voice is formed using 'be' and the past participle of a verb. The subject of a passive clause does not perform the action expressed by the verb but is affected by it. For example, in 'He's been murdered', the verb is in the passive. Compare active. N-SING: the N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Quiet, quiescent, inert, inactive, receptive. 2. Unresisting, submissive, patient, long-suffering, enduring, suffering.

Moby Thesaurus

Laodicean, Olympian, abeyant, abject, accepting, accommodating, acquiescent, active, active voice, adapting, adaptive, adjusting, agreeable, aloof, amenable, apathetic, asleep, assenting, bearing, benumbed, blah, blank, blankminded, blase, bovine, calm, cataleptic, catatonic, centrist, comatose, complaisant, compliable, compliant, complying, consenting, contemplative, cool, dead, deferential, desensitized, detached, disinterested, dispassionate, do-nothing, docile, dopey, dormant, dull, empty, empty-headed, enduring, even, fatuous, fifty-fifty, flat, flexible, forbearing, foul, gentle, groggy, half-and-half, heartless, heavy, hebetudinous, hopeless, humble, idle, immobile, impartial, impassive, imperturbable, implicit, in a stupor, in abeyance, in suspense, inactive, inane, incogitant, independent, indifferent, inert, insouciant, laissez-aller, laissez-faire, lamblike, languid, languorous, latent, leaden, lethargic, lifeless, listless, logy, long-suffering, malleable, medio-passive, meditative, meek, middle, middle voice, midway, moderate, motionless, neuter, neutral, nirvanic, nonaligned, nonchalant, noncommitted, nondissenting, nonpartisan, nonresistant, nonresisting, nonresistive, nonviolent, numb, numbed, obedient, oblivious, on the fence, out of it, ovine, paralytic, paralyzed, passive voice, patient, phlegmatic, placid, pliable, pluckless, procrastinating, quiescent, quiet, quietist, quietistic, receptive, reconciled, reflexive, relaxed, repressed, resigned, sedentary, serene, servile, sheepish, slack, sleeping, sleepy, sluggish, slumbering, smoldering, soporific, spiritless, spunkless, stagnant, stagnating, standing, standpat, static, stationary, still, stoic, stolid, stupefied, subdued, submissive, subservient, supine, suspended, tacit, tame, third-force, third-world, thoughtfree, thoughtless, tolerant, torpid, tractable, tranquil, unaffected, unaroused, unassertive, uncaring, uncommitted, uncomplaining, unconcerned, undisclosed, unexpressed, unideaed, unintellectual, uninterested, uninvolved, unmoved, unmoving, unoccupied, unperturbed, unreasoning, unresistant, unresisting, unresponsive, unrevealed, unshaken, unthinking, untouched, vacant, vacuous, vegetable, vegetative, voice, withdrawn, yielding