passive

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Accepting what happens without taking action or resisting.

   He stayed passive during the argument and said nothing.

2. 2
   adj

   Describing a verb form where the subject receives the action, as in 'the ball was thrown'.

   Academic writing often favours passive sentences.

3. 3
   noun

   The form of a verb showing that the subject receives the action rather than doing it.

   'The ball was thrown by the boy' is written in the passive.

From Middle English passyf, passyve, from Middle French, French passif, from Latin passivus (“serving to express the suffering of an action; in late Latin literally capable of suffering or feeling”), from passus, past participle of pati (“to suffer”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hurt”); compare patient.

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