passively
English
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editAdverb
editpassively (not comparable)
- In a passive manner; without conscious or self-directed action.
- 2000, Brian D. Wisenden, “Scents of Danger”, in Animal Signals: signalling and signal design in animal communication, page 369:
- Water flowed passively between tanks via the siphon.
- 2007, Klaus Dieter Budras et al., Anatomy of the Dog, page 188:
- Due to this pressure aortic and pulmonary valves are opened passively and due to relaxation blood is sucked from the venae cavae into the atrium.
- In an acquiescent manner; resignedly or submissively.
- 1997, Gary A. Olson, Todd W. Taylor, Publishing in Rhetoric and Composition, page 218:
- Paradoxically, the same faculty who complain about busyness are most likely to end up waiting passively. While they acquiescently wait to write, they busy themselves with other, often trivial, activities.
- 1998, Wallace Collins, Dragon Fire, page 9:
- They were not waving at him but sat passively as if waiting to hear if what he had to say would be derogatory to their previous relationship.
- (grammar) In the passive voice; having a passive construction.
- 2008, Timothy J. Conlan, Alice M. Rivlin, Paul L. Posner, Intergovernmental Management for the Twenty-first Century, page 214:
- Statements phrased in an active voice, with a few outcome-oriented goals, improve school performance more than those stated passively with either multiple goals or goals focused on processes or behaviors.
Synonyms
edit- (in a passive manner): automatically, mindlessly
- (in an acquiescent manner): resignedly, submissively
Related terms
editTranslations
editin a passive manner; without conscious or self-directed action
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in an acquiescent manner; resignedly
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grammar: in the passive voice
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