unreactiveadj.

1832 R. C. Sands Mr. Green in Tales of Glauber-Spa II. 106 A gentle pressure of the soft hand, not altogether unphilosophically unreactive.

1850 Lancet 10 Aug. 166/1 There may exist an anæsthetic condition of the mental receptivity, or an un-reactive state of will, so that no cognisance is taken.

1865 W. Strange Restoration of Health 195 The system remains too weak and unreactive, for some time after severe illness, to reply with sufficient energy to the application of cold.

1896 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 69 ii. 1567 The ordinary insoluble colouring matter was unreactive with the haloïd acids.

1942 Amer. Jrnl. Surg. 55 583/2 The pupils were large and equal, both round, and the right reacted to light and accommodation while the left was unreactive.

1978 Jrnl. Physical Chem. 82 2554/1 The zwitterion is relatively unreactive.

1993 Jrnl. Petrol. 34 346 This is due partly to the small volume of the individual sills, and the unreactive nature of the largely psammitic country rock.

2007 N. Angier Canon v. 127 This triple-bonded nitrogen duet makes for an exceptionally doughty and unreactive molecule that lasts and lasts.

1908 Amer. Chem. Jrnl. 40 430 A possible explanation for the great unreactivity of α-phenyl-cinnamylideneacetate may be found in a consideration of the spatial arrangement of the molecule.

1989 G. M. Edelman Remembered Present xiii. 228 The patients..show strong correlation among a group of symptoms—early morning awakening, weight loss, motor retardation, guilt, and unreactivity, as well as a lack of pleasure-seeking behavior.

2009 Injury 40 31/1 Bilateral dilatation and unreactivity can also result from factors other than brainstem ischaemia.