passive resistance

American  

noun

1. opposition to a government or to specific governmental laws by the use of noncooperation and other nonviolent methods, as economic boycotts and protest marches.

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passive resistance British  

noun

1. resistance to a government, law, etc, made without violence, as by fasting, demonstrating peacefully, or refusing to cooperate

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passive resistance Cultural  

1. A technique of demonstrating opposition to a government's activities simply by not cooperating with them. It is particularly associated with Mahatma Gandhi, who opposed violent revolution in his own country's fight for independence. (Compare civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance.)

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Other Word Forms

• passive resister
  noun

Etymology

Origin of passive resistance

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

passive resistance

Let's hope we see more passive resistance coming from the rest of the federal employees.

From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2024

The United States was different, too, deprived of the eloquence and passive resistance against racism that King espoused and burdened with the war in Vietnam for five more years.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 4, 2023

The group’s fliers, quoting from Goethe, Schiller, Aristotle, Lao Tzu and the Bible, urged passive resistance and sabotage of the Nazi project.

From New York Times ● Mar. 10, 2023

He took his pacifism to the civil rights movement, where he helped solidify the Gandhi-like strategy of passive resistance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2022

The Negro’s feeling of utter hopelessness is here replaced by a determined spirit of passive resistance.

From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin