passive smoking

American  

noun

1. the inhaling of cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoke of others, especially by a nonsmoker in an enclosed area.

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passive smoking British  

noun

1. the inhalation of smoke from other people's cigarettes by a nonsmoker

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Other Word Forms

• passive smoker
  noun

Etymology

Origin of passive smoking

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

passive smoking

The court highlighted the role of night work, exposure to ionising radiation and passive smoking.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

As one meta-analysis of research data found in 1998, "the only factor associated with concluding that passive smoking is not harmful was whether an author was affiliated with the tobacco industry."

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2021

Family pets are equally, if not more, at risk of being affected by passive smoking as humans, research suggests.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2017

“No clear link between passive smoking and lung cancer,” read a 2013 headline in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, hardly a pro-tobacco publication.

From Slate ● Feb. 13, 2017

Says "It's on the same order of magnitude as passive smoking," an official with the World Health Organization's cancer agency says.

From New York Times ● Jun. 13, 2012