passive resistance

noun

1. opposition to a government or to specific governmental laws by the use of noncooperation and other nonviolent methods, as economic boycotts and protest marches.

passive resistance

noun

1. resistance to a government, law, etc, made without violence, as by fasting, demonstrating peacefully, or refusing to cooperate

passive resistance

1. A technique of demonstrating opposition to a government's activities simply by not cooperating with them. It is particularly associated with Mahatma Gandhi , who opposed violent revolution in his own country's fight for independence. ( Compare civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance .)

Other Words From

• passive re·sister noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of passive resistance¹

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

The meme faced partial censorship when it first gained popularity around June, as authorities worried about the sentiment of passive resistance associated with it.

From Quartz

Khin Sandar Nyunt, an ethnographer who has researched nonviolent protest in Myanmar, says the nation’s bloody past must be taken into account when evaluating the tactics of passive resistance.

From Time

Garner became the Gandhi of loosies, offering only the most passive resistance as the police moved to arrest him.

From The Daily Beast

Although, until they acquire jobs and babies, they practice passive resistance to the third.

From The Daily Beast

For years Mandela had been urging the ANC to abandon its strict policy of passive resistance.

From The Daily Beast

Realism justifiably says that they must renounce violence, but when they adopt passive resistance they must renounce that too.

From The Daily Beast

He wrote the words he hoped would inspire his people to passive resistance.

From The Daily Beast

Tom had quickly whispered to those nearest the pole not to fight back, but to offer passive resistance.

From Project Gutenberg

Passive resistance takes on heroic proportions when a duchess and a man-servant confront the Law with haughty immobility.

From Project Gutenberg

The attitude of passive resistance is, however, still maintained, and has affected the position of the duchy of Brunswick.

From Project Gutenberg

And the passive resistance of those who refused to conform at length gave rise to active opposition.

From Project Gutenberg

This attitude of passive resistance, dead as a ball of cotton, was always put on when money was mentioned.

From Project Gutenberg