Search Result for "passive": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

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;
- Example: "`The ball was thrown by the boy' uses the passive voice"
- Example: "`The ball was thrown' is an abbreviated passive"
[syn: passive voice, passive]


ADJECTIVE (3)

1. lacking in energy or will;
- Example: "Much benevolence of the passive order may be traced to a disinclination to inflict pain upon oneself"- George Meredith
[syn: passive, inactive]

2. peacefully resistant in response to injustice;
- Example: "passive resistance"
[syn: passive, peaceful]

3. expressing that the subject of the sentence is the patient of the action denoted by the verb;
- Example: "academics seem to favor passive sentences"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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. [1913 Webster] The passive air Upbore their nimble tread. --Milton. [1913 Webster] The mind is wholly passive in the reception of all its simple ideas. --Locke. [1913 Webster] 2. 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. --Massinger. [1913 Webster] 3. (Chem.) Inactive; inert; unreactive; not showing strong affinity; as, red phosphorus is comparatively passive. [1913 Webster] 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. [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. [1913 Webster] Syn: Inactive; inert; quiescent; unresisting; unopposing; suffering; enduring; submissive; patient. [1913 Webster] Passive balloon
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

passive 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]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

211 Moby Thesaurus words for "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
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

PASSIVE, com. law. All the sums of which one is a debtor. It is used in contradistinction to active. (q.v.) By active debts are understood those which may be employed in furnishing assets to a merchant to pay those which he owes, which are called passive debts.