passive
Pronunciation: /ˈpasɪv/
adjective
- 1accepting or allowing what happens or what others do, without active response or resistance: the women were portrayed as passive victims
- 2 Grammar denoting a voice of verbs in which the subject undergoes the action of the verb (e.g. they were killed as opposed to the active form he killed them). The opposite of active.
- 3(of a circuit or device) containing no source of electromotive force: a passive optical network is to be installed in 2000 homes
- (of radar or a satellite) receiving or reflecting radiation from a transmitter or target rather than generating its own signal: passive sensors detect the emissions from enemy radar
- (of a heating system) making use of incident sunlight as an energy source: bananas can be grown at the highest altitude using passive solar heating alone
Origin:
late Middle English (in passive (sense 2 of the adjective), also in the sense '(exposed to) suffering, acted on by an external agency'): from Latin passivus, from pass- 'suffered', from the verb pati