definitions

passive resistance

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR passive resistance 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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RELATED WORDS

nonresistance

Nearby words

passive margin, passive movement, passive noun, passive obedience, passive reason, passive resistance, passive restraint, passive safety, passive smoking, passive transfer, passive tremor
Compare civil disobedience, noncooperation(def 2).

Origin of passive resistance

First recorded in 1880–85

Related forms

pas·sive re·sist·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

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

Culture 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.)

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.