passivity
Americannoun
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Also passiveness the state or condition of being passive.
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chemical inactivity, especially the resistance to corrosion of certain metals when covered with a coherent oxide layer.
Etymology
Origin of passivity
Explanation
Passivity is allowing others to do things to you without complaining or pushing back. The baby-sitter's passivity led her charges to walk all over her. They stayed up all night and tied her to the chair, and all she said was, "Please stop misbehaving." You'd use the noun passivity to refer to the state of being passive — passivity applies to someone who accepts the actions or opinions of others without speaking up. Passivity can help you from getting into a fight but that same passivity can mean you might also get a black eye.
Vocabulary lists containing passivity
Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Elie Wiesel's "Hope, Despair and Memory" (1986)
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The Bluest Eye
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Homo Sovieticus displayed self-abasement, passivity in the face of authority and extreme conformity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
In Aviv’s view, Munro’s work accumulated power even as her family unraveled and her own unheroic passivity was exposed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
At first I couldn’t come up with even a basic story idea, but in a stroke of visionary passivity, I outsourced the job to Sora’s famous cousin, ChatGPT.
From Barron's ● Dec. 12, 2025
This claim of passivity kidded nobody except maybe himself.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2025
But a decade of ruthlessly honed instinct rebels at such passivity.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
