PASSIVE | Meaning In The Cambridge English Dictionary

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Meaning of passive in English passiveadjective uk /ˈpæs.ɪv/ us /ˈpæs.ɪv/

passive adjective (GRAMMAR)

Add to word list Add to word list B1 language   specialized The passive form of a verb is being used when the grammatical subject is the person or thing that experiences the effect of an action, rather than the person or thing that causes the effect: 'He was released from prison' is a passive sentence. In the sentence "He was hit by the ball", "was hit" is in the passive voice.
  • 'Catrin told me' is an active sentence, and 'I was told by Catrin' is passive.
  • In a passive sentence, the subject is the person or thing affected by the action of the verb.
  • 'Was made' is a passive form of the verb 'make'.
  • Some verbs do not have a passive form.
Linguistics: verb forms, tenses & types of verbs
  • accusative
  • active voice
  • aorist
  • art
  • bent
  • conditional
  • conjugation
  • ditransitive
  • imperative
  • imperfect
  • modal
  • modality
  • non-finite
  • non-progressive
  • passivization
  • passivize
  • tense
  • unconjugated
  • wast
  • wilt
See more results »

passive adjective (BEHAVIOUR)

B2 often disapproving not acting to influence or change a situation; allowing other people to be in control: He's very passive in the relationship. Traditionally in many professions women have been confined to more passive roles. Passive and not working
  • adynamic
  • anywhere
  • breather
  • breathing space
  • bum around phrasal verb
  • dormant
  • idle
  • laze
  • laze around
  • leave someone be idiom
  • lie around phrasal verb
  • moribund
  • navel
  • recharge
  • siesta
  • sit on something phrasal verb
  • sit on your arse idiom
  • sit on your hands idiom
  • sit round phrasal verb
  • slob
See more results »

passive adjective (INCOME)

finance & economics   specialized Passive income is money that you earn without having to work for it every day, for example money that you receive from renting out a property. : Buying a second home can provide a rental that you can use to create passive income. You collect passive income from certain businesses in which you aren't an active participant. Earning money
  • assessable
  • bank
  • base pay
  • basic
  • basic income
  • coin
  • feather your own nest idiom
  • gross
  • killing
  • laugh
  • non-wage
  • nonearning
  • not get out of bed for something idiom
  • on commission
  • operating
  • salaried
  • scrape a living idiom
  • starting salary
  • stipend
  • stoppage
See more results »

Related word

passively

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impassive

Grammar

PassiveWe use the terms active voice and passive voice to talk about ways of organising the content of a clause: … Passive: active and passiveWe use the terms active voice and passive voice to talk about ways of organising the content of a clause: … Passive: formsThe most common passive structure is be + -ed form: … Passives with an agentWe use the preposition by to introduce the doer or the agent of the action. We use this structure when the agent is important: … Passives without an agentPassive structures without an agent are very common. We use these structures when an agent is not important, or is unknown or obvious: … Passive: usesUsing the passive allows the speaker or writer to make choices about what is important. … Passive: other formsOther structures that have passive characteristics are the get-passive and get/have something done: … Passive: typical errorsWe don’t form passive structures with intransitive verbs: … Word order and focusThere are a number of ways in which we can arrange subjects, verbs, objects, complements and adjuncts within a clause. Depending on how we arrange them, we can focus on certain elements over others, especially if we arrange them in an unusual way. … Word order: structuresThere are a number of options which we can use to add emphasis or focus within a clause. … Indirect object versus prepositional complementWhen we talk about someone receiving something, we can express it using the typical word order: indirect object (io) + direct object (do). … Active and passive voiceActive voice is the typical word order. That is when we put the subject (the doer) first, followed by the new information (which is the focus): … Cleft sentencesCleft means ‘divided’ and in a cleft sentence a single message is divided across two clauses. We use cleft sentences, especially in speaking, to connect what is already understood to what is new to the listener. By doing this we can focus on the new information. There are different types of cleft sentence. … passivenoun [ S or C ]   language   specialized uk /ˈpæs.ɪv/ us /ˈpæs.ɪv/ B1 the form of a verb used when the grammatical subject is the person or thing that experiences the effect of an action, rather than the person or thing that causes the effect: When changed into the passive, "The dog chased the cat" becomes "The cat was chased by the dog". Passives are much more common in Sesotho than in English. Compare active adjective (GRAMMAR) Linguistics: verb forms, tenses & types of verbs
  • accusative
  • active voice
  • aorist
  • art
  • bent
  • conditional
  • conjugation
  • ditransitive
  • imperative
  • imperfect
  • modal
  • modality
  • non-finite
  • non-progressive
  • passivization
  • passivize
  • tense
  • unconjugated
  • wast
  • wilt
See more results »

Grammar

PassiveWe use the terms active voice and passive voice to talk about ways of organising the content of a clause: … Passive: active and passiveWe use the terms active voice and passive voice to talk about ways of organising the content of a clause: … Passive: formsThe most common passive structure is be + -ed form: … Passives with an agentWe use the preposition by to introduce the doer or the agent of the action. We use this structure when the agent is important: … Passives without an agentPassive structures without an agent are very common. We use these structures when an agent is not important, or is unknown or obvious: … Passive: usesUsing the passive allows the speaker or writer to make choices about what is important. … Passive: other formsOther structures that have passive characteristics are the get-passive and get/have something done: … Passive: typical errorsWe don’t form passive structures with intransitive verbs: … Word order and focusThere are a number of ways in which we can arrange subjects, verbs, objects, complements and adjuncts within a clause. Depending on how we arrange them, we can focus on certain elements over others, especially if we arrange them in an unusual way. … Word order: structuresThere are a number of options which we can use to add emphasis or focus within a clause. … Indirect object versus prepositional complementWhen we talk about someone receiving something, we can express it using the typical word order: indirect object (io) + direct object (do). … Active and passive voiceActive voice is the typical word order. That is when we put the subject (the doer) first, followed by the new information (which is the focus): … Cleft sentencesCleft means ‘divided’ and in a cleft sentence a single message is divided across two clauses. We use cleft sentences, especially in speaking, to connect what is already understood to what is new to the listener. By doing this we can focus on the new information. There are different types of cleft sentence. … (Definition of passive from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

passive | American Dictionary

passiveadjective us /ˈpæs·ɪv/

passive adjective (BEHAVIOR)

Add to word list Add to word list not reacting to what happens, or not acting or taking part: They attack people who are too weak or too passive to resist.

passive adjective (GRAMMAR)

[ not gradable ]   grammar describing a verb or sentence in which the subject is the person or thing to which something stated is done: In the sentence "I was given a gift by Alex," the verb "give" is passive, or in the passive voice.
Note:
  • In English, passive verbs or sentences are formed with a form of the verb "to be" and a past participle.

passively

adverb us /ˈpæs·ɪv·li/ She watched passively as the children ran wild.

passivity

noun [ U ] us/pæˈsɪv·ɪ·t̬i/ Unemployment leads to political passivity, according to a study in Sweden. (Definition of passive from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

passive | Business English

passiveadjective uk /ˈpæsɪv/ us Add to word list Add to word list not acting to influence or change a situation, but allowing others to be in control: One of the interviewers asked most of the questions, and the other took a more passive role. Interactive TV technology makes passive viewers into active participants.

passively

adverb He tends to wait passively for his boss to tell him what to do. (Definition of passive from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press) What is the pronunciation of passive?

Translations of passive

in Chinese (Traditional) 文法, 被動語態的, 行為… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 语法, 被动语态的, 行为… See more in Spanish en voz pasiva, pasivo, pasivo/va [masculine-feminine… See more in Portuguese passivo, passivo/-va… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian निष्क्रीय, परिस्थीतीवर प्रभाव टाकण्यास अथवा बदल घडविण्यासाठी कोणतीही कृती न करणे. इतरांस परिस्थितीचा ताबा घेण्यास मुभा देणे.… See more （文法）受動態の, 受け身的な, 無抵抗の… See more pasif, hareketsiz, ilgisiz… See more passif/-ive, passif, voix passive… See more en veu passiva, passiu, la veu passiva… See more passief, lijdend, lijdende vorm… See more निष्क्रिय, निश्चेष्ट… See more પરિસ્થિતિને બદલવામાં કોઈપણ ભૂમિકા ન ભજવનાર, બીજી વ્યક્તિને પોતાના પર સંચાલન કરવાનો અધિકાર/કાબૂ આપનાર. નિષ્ક્રિય, ગૌણ… See more passiv… See more passiv… See more pasif… See more passiv, das Passiv… See more passiv, likegyldig… See more غیر فعال, غیر متحرک, سرد… See more пасивний, бездіяльний, пасив… See more చొరవ చూపని, స్తబ్ధుగా… See more নিষ্ক্রিয়, কোনো পরিস্থিতি প্রভাবিত বা পরিবর্তন করার জন্য কাজ করা হয় না এমন, অন্যান্যদের নিয়ন্ত্রণে ছেড়ে দেওয়া হয় এমন… See more pasivní, trpný, trpný rod (jaz.)… See more pasif… See more ซึ่งไม่มีปฏิกิริยา, รูปกริยาแสดงผู้ถูกกระทำ, กรรมวาจก… See more thụ động, thể bị động, dạng bị động… See more bierny, w stronie biernej, czasownik w stronie biernej… See more 수동태의, 수동적인, 수동태… See more passivo, il passivo… See more Need a translator?

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passionless passions phrase passions run high idiom passivation BETA passive passive activity passive aggression passive commerce passive immunity {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of passive

  • passive immunity
  • passive resistance
  • passive voice
  • passive loss
  • passive activity
  • passive commerce
  • passive offside
See all meanings

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UK /ˈkrɪm.zən/ US /ˈkrɪm.zən/

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  • English   
    • Adjective 
      • passive (GRAMMAR)
      • passive (BEHAVIOUR)
      • passive (INCOME)
    Noun
  • American   
    • Adjective 
      • passive (BEHAVIOR)
      • passive (GRAMMAR)
    • Adverb 
      • passively
    • Noun 
      • passivity
  • Business   
    • Adjective 
      • passive
    • Adverb 
      • passively
  • Translations
  • Grammar
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