Passive

How to spell passive

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce passive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does passive mean?

1. adjectiveAccepting or allowing what happens without active response, resistance, or effort.
2. nounThe grammatical voice in which the subject undergoes the action of the verb rather than performing it.

Passive in a sentence

• adjective

  His passive attitude in meetings frustrated the rest of the team.

• noun

  The style guide warns writers against overusing the passive in reports.

• adjective

  The rental property gives them a steady stream of passive income each month.

• noun

  The editor rewrote the sentence to avoid the passive and name who acted.

Where does passive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin passivus, which meant 'capable of feeling or suffering', built on the verb pati, 'to suffer, endure, or undergo'. The past participle of that verb was passus, and it is from this stem that the double 's' in the modern spelling descends. English took the word in during the late 1300s, by way of Old French, where it carried the sense of submitting to an action rather than performing it. The same Latin root for suffering and enduring gives us the closely related words 'passion' and 'patient', which is a useful reminder that something passive simply 'undergoes' rather than acts. Over time the word broadened from grammar and theology into everyday use describing people, attitudes, and even financial income that arrives without active effort.

How the word is built

• pass- (from Latin passus, the past participle of pati: to suffer or endure)
• -ive (adjective suffix meaning 'tending to')