Dictionary.com

passive resistance

Save This Word!
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.
QUIZ
THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?
Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.
Question 1 of 7
In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

Origin of passive resistance

First recorded in 1880–85

OTHER WORDS FROM passive resistance

pas·sive re·sist·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use passive resistance in a sentence

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.)

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.
FEEDBACK