adj.
- accepting or allowing what happens or what others do, without active response or resistance.
- Grammar denoting a voice of verbs in which the subject undergoes the action of the verb (e.g. they were killed as opposed to he killed them). The opposite of active.
- (of a circuit or device) containing no source of energy or electromotive force.
▸(of radar or a satellite) receiving or reflecting radiation rather than generating its own signal.
- Chemistry unreactive because of a thin inert surface layer of oxide.
n.
Grammar a passive form of a verb.
Derivative
- passively adv.
- passiveness n.
- passivity n.
Etymology
ME: from L. passivus, from pass-, pati ‘suffer’.