Lexic.us

Definition of Passive

1. Adjective. Lacking in energy or will. "Much benevolence of the passive order may be traced to a disinclination to inflict pain upon oneself"

2. Noun. 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' is an abbreviated passive"

3. Adjective. Peacefully resistant in response to injustice. "Passive resistance"

4. Adjective. Expressing that the subject of the sentence is the patient of the action denoted by the verb. "Academics seem to favor passive sentences"

Definition of Passive

1. a. Not active, but acted upon; suffering or receiving impressions or influences; as, they were passive spectators, not actors in the scene.

Definition of Passive

1. Adjective. Being subjected to an action without producing a reaction. ¹

2. Adjective. Taking no action. ¹

3. Adjective. (grammar) Being in the passive voice. ¹

4. Adjective. (context: psychology) Being inactive and submissive in a relationship, especially in a sexual one. ¹

5. Adjective. (finance) Not participating in management. ¹

6. Noun. (uncountable grammar) The passive voice of verbs. ¹

7. Noun. (countable grammar) A form of a verb that is in the passive voice. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Passive

1. a verb form [n -S]

Medical Definition of Passive

1. Neither spontaneous nor active, not produced by active efforts. Origin: L. Passivus This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Literary usage of Passive

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. English Grammar: Adapted to the Different Classes of Learners : with an by Lindley Murray (1811)
"The neuter verb is conjugated like the active ; but as it partakes somewhat of the nature of the passive, it admits, inmany instances, of the passive form, ..."

2. English Grammar in Familiar Lectures: Embracing a New Systematic Order of by Samuel Kirkham (1840)
"There are three kinds of nominatives, active, passive, and neuter. The nominative to an active verb, is active, because it produces an action, ..."

3. Journal of the American Chemical Society by American Chemical Society (1910)
"In an article1 by one of us it was shown that the passive state of iron may ... It seemed of interest, therefore, to determine whether the passive state of ..."

4. A Grammar of the German Language: Designed for a Thoro and Practical Study by George Oliver Curme (1922)
"For the origin of the actional passive see 190. 1. C. a. Note 1. The statal passive forms a complete conjugation in all the moods and tenses: (près, indie. ..."

5. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1908)
"He says that, theoretically and practically, the effects of suction, as by cupping, and those of passive congestion by the ..."

6. Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar by Wilhelm Gesenius, Thomas Jefferson Conant, Emil Roediger (1856)
"Several striking phenomena in the construction of the passive are readily explained, if we regard it as an impersonal Active (dicitur= they toy), just as, ..."

7. An Analytical and Practical Grammar of the English Language by Peter Bullions (1859)
"It is manifest from these examples, that whether we use the active, or the passive voice, the meaning is the same, except in some coses in the present tense ..."

8. Monographic Medicine by William Robie Patten Emerson, Guido Guerrini, William Brown, Wendell Christopher Phillips, John Whitridge Williams, John Appleton Swett, Hans Günther, Mario Mariotti, Hugh Grant Rowell (1916)
"passive movements of the extremities, we rely upon the perception of differences in tension of the part mediated by the sensory apparatus of the muscles, ..."

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