| 释义 |
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024pas•sive /ˈpæsɪv/USA pronunciation adj. - not reacting to something expected to produce signs of feeling:He was passive enough to accept the boss's abuse in front of everyone in the office.
- not acting or participating much;
inactive:a passive member of a committee. - Grammar(opposed to active) of, relating to, or being a voice, verb form, or construction that expresses an action that is done to rather than by the subject:In a passive sentence, the subject undergoes the action of the verb but does not perform it. In the passive sentence The letter was written last week, the subject letter does not perform the action, but receives the action of writing.
n. - Grammar[uncountable] the passive voice.
- Grammar[countable] a passive verb form or construction.
pas•sive•ly, adv.: He stood there passively accepting the abuse from his partner.See -pass-2. WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024pas•sive (pas′iv),USA pronunciation adj. - not reacting visibly to something that might be expected to produce manifestations of an emotion or feeling.
- not participating readily or actively;
inactive:a passive member of a committee. - not involving visible reaction or active participation:to play a passive role.
- inert or quiescent.
- influenced, acted upon, or affected by some external force, cause, or agency;
being the object of action rather than causing action (opposed to active). - receiving or characterized by the reception of impressions or influences from external sources.
- produced or caused by an external agency.
- receiving, enduring, or submitting without resistance:a passive hypnotic subject.
- Grammar
- noting a voice in the inflection of the verb in some languages which is used to indicate that the subject undergoes the action of the verb. Latin portātur, "he, she, or it is carried,'' is in the passive voice.
- noting or pertaining to a construction similar to this in meaning, as English He is carried (opposed to active).
- Chemistryinactive, esp. under conditions in which chemical activity is to be expected.
- Metallurgy(of a metal) treated so as to impart impassivity.
- Medicineof or pertaining to certain unhealthy but dormant conditions;
inactive, as opposed to active or spontaneous. - Telecommunicationsdesigned to relay signals without electronic devices:a passive communications satellite.
- Energy(of a solar heating system) accumulating and distributing solar heat without the aid of machinery.
n. [Gram.] - Grammarthe passive voice.
- Grammara passive form or construction.
- Latin passīvus literally, submissive, equivalent. to pass(us) (past participle of patī to experience, undergo, submit) + -īvus -ive
- Middle English 1350–1400
- 8.See corresponding entry in Unabridged submissive, unresisting.
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged –3. active.
- 8.See corresponding entry in Unabridged recalcitrant.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: passive /ˈpæsɪv/ adj - not active or not participating perceptibly in an activity, organization, etc
- unresisting and receptive to external forces; submissive
- affected or acted upon by an external object or force
- denoting a voice of verbs in sentences in which the grammatical subject is not the logical subject but rather the recipient of the action described by the verb, as was broken in the sentence The glass was broken by a boy
- (of a substance, esp a metal) apparently chemically unreactive, usually as a result of the formation of a thin protective layer that prevents further reaction
- containing no source of power and therefore capable only of attenuating a signal: a passive network
- not capable of amplifying a signal or controlling a function: a passive communications satellite
- (of a bond, share, debt, etc) yielding no interest
n - the passive voice
- a passive verb
Etymology: 14th Century: from Latin passīvus susceptible of suffering, from patī to undergoˈpassively adv pasˈsivity, ˈpassiveness n |