passively
🇺🇸 /ˈpæsɪvliː/
📖 Definitions
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adverb
In a passive manner; without active response, resistance, or participation; accepting or allowing what happens without taking action.; In a way that does not involve active effort or engagement; in an inactive or non-participatory manner.; In a manner that involves receiving or absorbing something rather than producing or initiating it, as in passive listening or passive income.; In a submissive or yielding manner; without asserting oneself or resisting authority.; In a grammatical sense, in the passive voice, where the subject receives the action of the verb rather than performing it.; In electronics or physics, in a manner that does not require an external power source or active component to function.; In medicine, in a manner that relies on the body's own immune response rather than on externally introduced antibodies or agents.
🔗 Details
Word forms
Collocations
passively acceptpassively resistpassively observepassively involvedpassively wait
Derivatives
passivepassivenesspassivitypassivatepassivation
Synonyms
inactivelysubmissivelydocilelyunresistinglyacquiescently
Antonyms
activelyaggressivelyassertively
Commonly confused
patiently
EN: 'Patiently' implies calm endurance while waiting; 'passively' implies lack of action or resistance, often with a negative connotation of not engaging.
Spelling tips
EN: Remember the double 's' in 'passively' and the '-ively' ending (not '-ively' vs '-ivly').
💬 Examples
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She passively accepted the decision without raising any objections.
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He passively watched television for hours instead of going outside.
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The students passively listened to the lecture without taking notes.
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The prisoners passively obeyed the guards' commands.
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The sentence was constructed passively, with the object placed in the subject position.
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The sensor passively detects infrared radiation emitted by objects.
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The infant was passively immunized through antibodies transferred from the mother's milk.