passively
advUK, US /ˈpæs.ɪv.li/
Etymology From passive + -ly.
1
In a passive manner; without conscious or self-directed action.
- Water flowed passively between tanks via the siphon.2000, Brian D. Wisenden, “Scents of Danger”, in Animal Signals: signalling and signal design in animal communication, page 369:
- Due to this pressure aortic and pulmonary valves are opened passively and due to relaxation blood is sucked from the venae cavae into the atrium.2007, Klaus Dieter Budras et al., Anatomy of the Dog, page 188:
1 more example
- For most people, this sacrifice is made easily and instinctively. Not so for otroverts, who are neither willing nor able to passively adopt the social scripts that others do. To the otrovert, who is constantly engaged with the choices and consequences of their individual life, social norms follow a circular logic: […]2025 June 19, Rami Kaminski, ““Otroverts” and why nonconformists often see what others can’t”, in Big Think:
2
In an acquiescent manner; resignedly or submissively.
- Paradoxically, the same faculty who complain about busyness are most likely to end up waiting passively. While they acquiescently wait to write, they busy themselves with other, often trivial, activities.1997, Gary A. Olson, Todd W. Taylor, Publishing in Rhetoric and Composition, page 218:
- They were not waving at him but sat passively as if waiting to hear if what he had to say would be derogatory to their previous relationship.1998, Wallace Collins, Dragon Fire, page 9:
3
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences In the passive voice; having a passive construction.
- Statements phrased in an active voice, with a few outcome-oriented goals, improve school performance more than those stated passively with either multiple goals or goals focused on processes or behaviors.2008, Timothy J. Conlan, Alice M. Rivlin, Paul L. Posner, Intergovernmental Management for the Twenty-first Century, page 214:
- Synonyms
- automatically, mindlessly, resignedly, submissively
- Related terms
- passive, passiveness, passivisation, passivization, passivise, passivize, passivity