passively

[pas-iv-lee]

adverb

1. without emotion, reaction, or resistance.

   Shiloh passively watched the reactions of the crowd.

   At the start of the play, she passively accepts her wretched lot in life.

2. without active participation.

   The walk signals can be activated manually with a push button or passively by means of a pedestrian detection system.

3. in a way that indicates being affected by some action, external force, or cause.

   The patient reports significant pain when the shoulders and pelvis are rotated passively in the same plane.

4. in a way that does not involve machinery or electronic devices.

   The building is on stilts, allowing air to circulate freely underneath, thereby passively cooling the living areas.

   Deciduous trees are ideal because they drop their leaves in winter, when you want sunlight to passively heat your home.

5. Grammar.,  using the passive voice, indicating that the subject undergoes the action of the verb.

   The sentence was worded passively to avoid blaming anyone by name.

Other Word Forms

• quasi-passively adverb
• semipassively adverb
• unpassively adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of passively¹

passive ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

“Family Meal” is a modern updating of the old-fashioned idea of dinner and a show, only this dinner theater presentation isn’t simply about being wined, dined and passively entertained.

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In “KPop Demon Hunters,” however, these demons are not waiting passively for humans to die but are rather preemptively harvesting souls through their addictive tunes and undeniable physical magnetism.

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“It led to business opportunities to passively raise awareness, which was really good for the sharks,” she says of the video.

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In “Kpop Demon Hunters,” however, these demons are not waiting passively for humans to die but are rather preemptively harvesting souls through their addictive tunes and undeniable physical magnetism.

Read more on Salon

While the S&P 500 has gained a pre-inflation average of over 10 percent annually over the past half-century, the returns on that growth have accrued passively to the richest among us.

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Related Words

• calmly