Passive

Definition of Passive

Pas´sive

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.

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.

(Chem.) Inactive; inert; unreactive; not showing strong affinity; as, red phosphorus is comparatively passive.

(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
(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.

Related Words

Laodicean, Olympian, abeyant, abject, accepting, accommodating, acquiescent, 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, even, fatuous, fifty-fifty, flat, flexible, forbearing, foul, gentle, groggy, half-and-half, heartless, heavy, hebetudinous, hopeless, humble, immobile, impartial, impassive, imperturbable, implicit, in a stupor, in abeyance, in suspense, inane, incogitant, independent, indifferent, 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, phlegmatic, placid, pliable, pluckless, procrastinating, quiescent, quiet, quietist, quietistic, receptive, reconciled, reflexive, 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

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Passim
Passing
Passing bell
Passing note
Passing tone
Passingly
Passion
Passion flower
Passion music
Passion play
Passion Sunday
Passion Week
Passional
Passionary
Passionate
Passionately
Passionateness
Passionist
Passionless
Passiontide
-Passive-
Passive balloon
Passive congestion
Passive flight
Passive hyperaemia
Passive iron
Passive movement
Passive obedience
Passive prayer
Passive verb
Passive voice
Passively
Passiveness
passivism
Passivity
Passless
Passman
Passover
Passport
Passus
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