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definitions

passive resistance

See more synonyms for passive resistance on Thesaurus.com
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.
Compare civil disobedience, noncooperation(def 2).

Origin of passive resistance

First recorded in 1880–85
Related formspas·sive re·sist·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for passive resistance

nonresistance
British Dictionary definitions for passive resistance

passive resistance

noun
  1. 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
passive resistance in Culture

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.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.