passive

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: pas=sive
• COUNT in NET: 1 in 1 verses (in NT : 1 in 1 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

passive, a. [L. passivus: cf. F. passif. See Passion.].

•  Not active, but acted upon; suffering or receiving impressions or influences; as, they were passive spectators, not actors in the scene.  [1913 Webster]

  "The passive air
  Upbore their nimble tread."  [1913 Webster]

  "The mind is wholly passive in the reception of all its simple ideas."  [1913 Webster]
•  Receiving or enduring without either active sympathy or active resistance; without emotion or excitement; patient; not opposing; unresisting; as, passive obedience; passive submission.  [1913 Webster]

  "The best virtue, passive fortitude."  [1913 Webster]
•  Inactive; inert; unreactive; not showing strong affinity; as, red phosphorus is comparatively passive.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

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.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

passive, 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.

Idiom

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.

Derivative

passively adv. passiveness n. passivity n.

Etymology

ME f. OF passif -ive or L passivus (as PASSION)

THESAURUS

passive

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

ROGET THESAURUS

passive

Inaction

N inaction, passiveness, abstinence from action, noninterference, nonintervention, Fabian policy, conservative policy, neglect, inactivity, rest, quiescence, want of occupation, inoccupation, idle hours, time hanging on one's hands, dolce far niente, sinecure, featherbed, featherbedding, cushy job, no-show job, soft snap, soft thing, not doing, not done, undone, passive, unoccupied, unemployed, out of employ, out of work, fallow, desaeuvre, re infecta, at a stand, les bras croisis, with folded arms, with the hands in the pockets, with the hands behind one's back, pour passer le temps, Int, so let it be!, stop!, hands off!, cunctando restituit rem, If it ain't broke don't fix it, stare decisis, let the decision stand.

Obedience

N obedience, observance, compliance, submission, subjection, nonresistance, passiveness, resignation, allegiance, loyalty, fealty, homage, deference, devotion, constancy, fidelity, submissness, submissiveness, ductility, obsequiousness, obedient, complying, compliant, loyal, faithful, devoted, at one's call, at one's command, at one's orders, at one's beck and call, under beck and call, under control, restrainable, resigned, passive, submissive, henpecked, pliant, unresisted, obediently, in compliance with, in obedience to, to hear is to obey, as you please, if you please, your wish is my command, as you wish, no sooner said than done.

Physical Inertness

N physical inertness, inertness, dullness, inertia, vis inertiae, inertion, inactivity, torpor, languor, quiescence, latency, inaction, passivity, mental inertness, sloth, inexcitability, irresolution, obstinacy, permanence, rare gas, paraffin, noble metal, unreactivity, inert, inactive, passive, torpid, sluggish, dull, heavy, flat, slack, tame, slow, blunt, unreactive, lifeless, dead, uninfluential, latent, dormant, smoldering, unexerted, inactively, in suspense, in abeyance.