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

District Judge Marco A. Hernandez barred police from firing less-lethal FN303 and 40-mm launchers and using pepper spray on people engaged in passive resistance.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 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

Bringing this up elicits a lot of anger or passive resistance.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 7, 2022

As we all know, nonviolence and passive resistance would eventually spread through the world, inspiring Martin Luther King, Jr., in the fight for civil rights in America.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson