[1] : 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
see also:
passion passive congestion passive iron passive movement passive obedience passive prayer 
passive verb passive voice 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

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: inactive
            ant: active
     2: peacefully resistant in response to injustice; "passive
        resistance" syn: peaceful
     3: expressing thatthe subject of the sentence is the patient of
        the action denoted by the verb; "academics seem to favor
        passive sentences" ant: active
     n : 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 ant: active
         voice
see also:
inactive active peaceful passive voice active voice 

[3] : 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

[4] : 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. 

Passive >> P Words
Passive, definition of term: Passive
passive_pag1.html

Passive Voice >> P Words
Passive Voice, definition of term: Passive Voice
passive+voice_pag1.html

Passive Verb >> P Words
Passive Verb, definition of term: Passive Verb
passive+verb_pag1.html

Passive Transpo >> P Words
Passive Transpo, definition of term: Passive Transpo
passive+transpo_pag1.html

Passive Resista >> P Words
Passive Resista, definition of term: Passive Resista
passive+resista_pag1.html

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