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Synonyms for passively


Grammar : Adv
Spell : pas-iv
Phonetic Transcription : ˈpæs ɪv



Définition of passively

Origin :
  • late 14c., in grammatical sense (opposed to active), Old French passif "suffering, undergoing hardship" (14c.) and directly from Latin passivus "capable of feeling or suffering," from pass-, past participle stem of pati "to suffer" (see passion). Meaning "not active" is first recorded late 15c.; sense of "enduring suffering without resistance" is from 1620s. Related: Passively. Passive resistance first attested 1819 in Scott's "Ivanhoe," used throughout 19c.; re-coined by Gandhi c.1906 in South Africa. Passive-aggressive with reference to behavior is attested by 1971.
  • adv indifferently
Example sentences :
  • Passively, he let Harry take him by the arm, and lead him on.
  • Extract from : « Malbone » by Thomas Wentworth Higginson
  • She now decided that he was not; he was passively antagonistic.
  • Extract from : « Chip, of the Flying U » by B. M. Bower
  • Choked with tears, I passively let him raise my hand to his lips.
  • Extract from : « The First Violin » by Jessie Fothergill
  • But it does not scruple to mark its disapproval by passively hindering him at every turn.
  • Extract from : « The Snare » by Rafael Sabatini
  • He set his hands on her shoulders, she suffering it passively, insensibly.
  • Extract from : « The Snare » by Rafael Sabatini
  • Couldn't she know for herself, passively, how little harm they meant her?
  • Extract from : « The Wings of the Dove, Volume 1 of 2 » by Henry James
  • He submitted to being hauled up the beach, passively, like a sack.
  • Extract from : « Romance » by Joseph Conrad and F.M. Hueffer
  • Or in what other way could it have arisen, since scales are also passively useful parts?
  • Extract from : « Evolution in Modern Thought » by Ernst Haeckel
  • When he commands what is unlawful we must obey him passively.
  • Extract from : « The History of England from the Accession of James II. » by Thomas Babington Macaulay
  • Then Mannering was announced, and Mannering was a man I had learned to passively dislike.
  • Extract from : « The Motor Pirate » by George Sidney Paternoster

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Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019