Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Grammatical Voice: Describing a verb form or sentence construction where the grammatical subject is the recipient of the action, not the performer.
   • Accepting without Reaction: Accepting or allowing what happens or what others do, without active response or resistance.
   • Inactive or Submissive: Lacking in energy, initiative, or will; not participating actively.

2. Noun:

   • Grammatical Category: The passive voice as a grammatical construction or set of verb forms.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • The sentence "The window was broken" is in the passive voice. (Here, 'the window' receives the action.)
  • He played a passive role in the meeting, listening but not contributing.
  • She was passive in the face of criticism, offering no defense.

• Noun:

  • "Was written" is an example of the passive.
  • Some writers advise against overusing the passive.

Advanced Usage

• Passive Construction: A sentence structure focusing on the action and its recipient, often omitting the agent (the doer).
  • The proposal was approved unanimously. (The agent 'by the committee' is implied or omitted.)
• Passive Resistance: A method of protest characterized by non-violent non-cooperation.
  • The activists engaged in passive resistance by staging sit-ins.

Variants and Related Words

• Passively (adverb): In a passive manner.
  • He waited passively for instructions.
• Passiveness (noun): The state or quality of being passive.
• Passivity (noun): The acceptance of what happens, without active response; often interchangeable with 'passiveness'.
  • Her passivity in the situation worried her friends.

Synonyms

• Adjective (for non-grammatical senses): Submissive, inactive, unresisting, compliant, acquiescent.
• Noun (grammatical): Passive voice.

Antonyms

• Active: Taking action; the grammatical voice where the subject performs the verb's action.
• Assertive: Having or showing a confident and forceful personality.
• Proactive: Creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding later.

Related Phrases

• Passive-aggressive: Of or denoting a type of behavior characterized by indirect resistance to the demands of others and an avoidance of direct confrontation.
  • Giving someone the silent treatment is a passive-aggressive tactic.
• Passive income: Earnings derived from a rental property, limited partnership, or other enterprise in which a person is not actively involved.
  • He receives passive income from his book royalties.
• Passive smoking: The inhalation of smoke from other people's cigarettes, cigars, or pipes.
  • Laws protect workers from the dangers of passive smoking.

Adjective

1. expressing that the subject of the sentence is the patient of the action denoted by the verb
   • academics seem to favor passive sentences
2. peacefully resistant in response to injustice
   • passive resistance
3. lacking in energy or will
   • Much benevolence of the passive order may be traced to a disinclination to inflict pain upon oneself- George Meredith

Noun

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