passively

[ pas-iv-lee ]

adverb

1. without emotion, reaction, or resistance:

   Shiloh passively watched the reactions of the crowd.

   At the start of the play, she passively accepts her wretched lot in life.

2. without active participation:

   The walk signals can be activated manually with a push button or passively by means of a pedestrian detection system.

3. in a way that indicates being affected by some action, external force, or cause:

   The patient reports significant pain when the shoulders and pelvis are rotated passively in the same plane.

4. in a way that does not involve machinery or electronic devices:

   The building is on stilts, allowing air to circulate freely underneath, thereby passively cooling the living areas.

   Deciduous trees are ideal because they drop their leaves in winter, when you want sunlight to passively heat your home.

5. Grammar. using the passive voice, indicating that the subject undergoes the action of the verb:

   The sentence was worded passively to avoid blaming anyone by name.

Other Words From

• qua·si-pas·sive·ly adverb
• sem·i·pas·sive·ly adverb
• un·pas·sive·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of passively¹

passive ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

Paul’s team claimed these hybrid animals would somehow make participants money by passively generating more Zoo Tokens.

From BBC

Private prison executives did not passively wait for their "unprecedented opportunity" to come.

From Salon

A disproportionate number not only did not even passively resist but showed themselves eager to lick the polish off Hitler’s jackboots, if necessary.

From Salon

He didn’t just passively watch the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone or the grindhouse films of the 1970s, he dissected them scene by scene.

From BBC

Whether you are dealing with Trump’s politics firsthand, or only absorbing it like second-hand smoke, passively and sometimes unwittingly, you are suffering.

From Salon

Related Words

• calmly