Definition of passive adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. accepting what happens or what people do without trying to change anything or oppose them. He played a passive role in the relationship. She wore a passive expression on her face as if she didn’t care what happened.
From hushed gossip at the water cooler to avoidance of direct conflict by way of emailed accusations, today’s workplace offers countless opportunities for passive-aggressive behavior. Passive ...
passive implies immobility or lack of normally expected response to an external force or influence and often suggests deliberate submissiveness or self-control.
'Catrin told me' is an active sentence, and 'I was told by Catrin' is passive. In a passive sentence, the subject is the person or thing affected by the action of the verb.
When you're passive, you don't participate much and you're not very emotional. In chemistry, passive means to be "unreactive except under special or extreme conditions; inert."
Existing, conducted, or experienced without active or concerted effort: "Although tick paralysis is a reportable disease in Washington, surveillance is passive, and only 10 cases were reported during 1987-1995" (US Department of Health and Human Services).
Do you know how to use the passive voice to change the focus of a sentence? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.
Grammar (opposed to active) of, relating to, or being a voice, verb form, or construction that expresses an action that is done to rather than by the subject: In a passive sentence, the subject undergoes the action of the verb but does not perform it.