passively

[pas-iv-lee]

adverb

1. without emotion, reaction, or resistance.

   Shiloh passively watched the reactions of the crowd.

   At the start of the play, she passively accepts her wretched lot in life.

2. without active participation.

   The walk signals can be activated manually with a push button or passively by means of a pedestrian detection system.

3. in a way that indicates being affected by some action, external force, or cause.

   The patient reports significant pain when the shoulders and pelvis are rotated passively in the same plane.

4. in a way that does not involve machinery or electronic devices.

   The building is on stilts, allowing air to circulate freely underneath, thereby passively cooling the living areas.

   Deciduous trees are ideal because they drop their leaves in winter, when you want sunlight to passively heat your home.

5. Grammar.,  using the passive voice, indicating that the subject undergoes the action of the verb.

   The sentence was worded passively to avoid blaming anyone by name.

Other Word Forms

• quasi-passively adverb
• semipassively adverb
• unpassively adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of passively¹

passive ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

The team's findings, published in Physical Review Applied, build on decades of theory and computer modeling to produce real-world structures that can passively disrupt vibrations traveling through them.

Read more on Science Daily

Actively managed funds tend to have higher expenses than passively managed funds that track stock indexes or sectors.

Read more on MarketWatch

“Family Meal” is a modern updating of the old-fashioned idea of dinner and a show, only this dinner theater presentation isn’t simply about being wined, dined and passively entertained.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In “KPop Demon Hunters,” however, these demons are not waiting passively for humans to die but are rather preemptively harvesting souls through their addictive tunes and undeniable physical magnetism.

Read more on Salon

“It led to business opportunities to passively raise awareness, which was really good for the sharks,” she says of the video.

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Related Words

• calmly