passive resistance

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See synonyms for: passive resistance / passive resister on Thesaurus.com

noun

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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Compare civil disobedience, noncooperation (def. 2).

Origin of passive resistance

First recorded in 1880–85

OTHER WORDS FROM passive resistance

pas·sive re·sist·er, noun

Words nearby passive resistance

passive margin, passive-matrix, passive noun, passive obedience, passive reason, passive resistance, passive restraint, passive safety, passive smoking, passive transfer, passive vocabulary

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use passive resistance in a sentence

The meme faced partial censorship when it first gained popularity around June, as authorities worried about the sentiment of passive resistance associated with it.
“Lying flat” is officially one of China’s top memes of 2021|Jane Li|December 7, 2021|Quartz
Khin Sandar Nyunt, an ethnographer who has researched nonviolent protest in Myanmar, says the nation’s bloody past must be taken into account when evaluating the tactics of passive resistance.
As Myanmar's Junta Intensifies Its Crackdown, Pro-Democracy Protesters Prepare for Civil War|Kyaw Hsan Hlaing / Yangon|April 7, 2021|Time
If we want to prevent others from your fate, we need to stop being so passive on these issues.
Dear Leelah, We Will Fight On For You: A Letter to a Dead Trans Teen|Parker Molloy|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But that makes the Ismael brothers no less proud of the resistance that they and other fellow fighters have put up.
The Brothers Who Ambushed ISIS|Mohammed A. Salih|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

In the future, antibiotic resistance could have catastrophic consequences.
Without Education, Antibiotic Resistance Will Be Our Greatest Health Crisis|Russell Saunders|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There would, then, likely be significant police resistance to this measure.
How the U.S. Justice System Screws Prisoners with Disabilities|Elizabeth Picciuto|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In a rather passive aggressive letter, the House Minority Leader wrote.
Nancy Pelosi Plays Hardball On Cromnibus|Ben Jacobs|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There is cause for alarm when they bring one hundred and ten ships into these seas without any means of resistance on our part.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624|Various
A double detachment of soldiers was already there, with orders to support him in case of resistance.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
A mild degree means that the body is not reacting well, or else that the infection is too slight to call forth much resistance.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Passive hyperemia occurs most commonly in diseases of the heart and liver and in pregnancy.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
This stubborn resistance lent all the more lustre to the piety of our benignant Rulers.
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. II: Acadia, 1612-1614|Various

British Dictionary definitions for passive resistance

passive resistance

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for passive resistance

passive resistance

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.)

passive resistance

Origin of passive resistance

OTHER WORDS FROM passive resistance

Words nearby passive resistance

Words related to passive resistance

How to use passive resistance in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for passive resistance

Cultural definitions for passive resistance