Related Searches
Nearby Words
Mouser Electronics www.mouser.com Semiconductors & Electronic Components For Design Engineers
Thesaurus.com Free Toolbar Dictionary.com Look Up Passive Instantly. Faster Page Loads With Fewer Ads.
Ads
| Main Entry: |
passive
 [pas-iv] 
|
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | lifeless, inactive |
| Synonyms: | acquiescent, apathetic, asleep, bearing, compliant, cool, docile, enduring, flat, forbearing, going through motions, hands off, idle, indifferent, inert, laid-back*, latent, long-suffering, moony, motionless, nonresistant, nonviolent, patient, phlegmatic, poker-faced, quiescent, quiet, receptive, resigned, sleepy, static, stolid, submissive, tractable, unassertive, unflappable, uninvolved, unresisting, walking through it, yielding |
| Notes: | active knowledge is the knowledge of a language which a user actively employs in speech or writing, as opposed to passive knowledge, which is what a person understands in what he/she hears or reads |
| Antonyms: | active, dynamic, lively |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | dormant |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | inactive; sleeping |
| Synonyms: | abeyant, asleep, closed down, comatose, down, fallow, hibernating, inert, inoperative, latent, lethargic, lurking, on the shelf, out of action, passive, potential, prepatent, quiescent, sidelined, slack, sluggish, slumbering, smoldering, suspended, torpid |
| Antonyms: | active, lively |
| Main Entry: | frigid |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unresponsive |
| Synonyms: | aloof, austere, chilly, cold, cold-hearted, cold-shoulder, cool, forbidding, formal, frosty, icy, impotent, indifferent, lifeless, passionless, passive, repellent, rigid, stiff, unapproachable, unbending, unfeeling, unloving |
| Antonyms: | amicable, amorous, lovable, loving, responsive, warm |
Example Sentences
- The passive voice cannot always be avoided (nor should it be).
- In the process, his home could become almost as green as those pricey “passive houses” the Europeans build.
- Most jellyfish are passive; they drift up and down in the water column, or are pulled to and fro by the tides and winds.
| Main Entry: | halfhearted |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | without enthusiasm |
| Synonyms: | apathetic, cool, impassive, indifferent, irresolute, lackluster, listless, lukewarm, neutral, passive, perfunctory, spiritless, tame, tepid, unenthusiastic, uninterested |
| Antonyms: | desirous, enthusiastic, interested, warm, whole-hearted |
| Main Entry: | idle |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | not used; out of action |
| Synonyms: | abandoned, asleep, barren, closed down, dead, deserted, down, dusty, empty, gathering dust, inactive, inert, jobless, laid-off, leisured, mothballed, motionless, on the bench, on the shelf, out of operation, out of work, passive, quiet, redundant, resting, rusty, sleepy, stationary, still, uncultivated, unemployed, unoccupied, untouched, unused, vacant, void, waste, workless |
| Notes: | idle means not in action or at work; idyll means a simple descriptive work, either in poetry or prose, dealing with simple, rustic life - or a lighthearted carefree episode or experience; idyllic means excellent and delightful in all respects |
| Antonyms: | active, busy, employed, productive, used, working |
| Main Entry: | inactive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | not engaged in action; inert, lazy |
| Synonyms: | abeyant, asleep, blah*, disengaged, do-nothing, dormant, down, draggy, dull, idle, immobile, in holding pattern, indolent, inoperative, jobless, latent, lax, lethargic, limp, low-key, mothballed, motionless, on hold, ossified, out of action, out of commission, out of service, out of work, passive, quiescent, quiet, sedentary, slack, sleepy, slothful, slow, sluggish, somnolent, stable, static, still, torpid, unemployed, unoccupied, unused |
| Antonyms: | active, busy, involved, working |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | inert |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | not moving; lifeless |
| Synonyms: | apathetic, asleep, dead, dormant, down, dull, idle, immobile, impassive, impotent, inactive, inanimate, indolent, languid, languorous, lazy, leaden, listless, motionless, numb, paralyzed, passive, phlegmatic, powerless, quiescent, quiet, slack, sleepy, slothful, sluggard, sluggish, slumberous, static, still, stolid, torpid, unmoving, unreactive, unresponsive |
| Antonyms: | active, alive, animated, lively, mobile, moving, working |
| Main Entry: | lackadaisical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | careless, indifferent |
| Synonyms: | abstracted, apathetic, daydreaming, disinterested, dreamy, dull, energyless, enervated, faineant, halfhearted, idle, inattentive, incurious, indolent, inert, laid-back, languid, languishing, languorous, lazy, lethargic, limp, listless, moony, passive, romantic, sentimental, slothful, spiritless, spring fever, unconcerned |
| Antonyms: | active, careful, caring, energetic, enthusiastic, hard-working |
| Main Entry: | latent |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | dormant, hidden |
| Synonyms: | abeyant, between the lines, concealed, contained, covert, idle, immature, implied, in abeyance, inactive, inert, inferential, inferred, inherent, inoperative, intrinsic, invisible, involved, lurking, passive, possible, potential, quiescent, rudimentary, secret, sleeping, smoldering, suppressed, suspended, tacit, torpid, underdeveloped, underlying, undeveloped, unexposed, unexpressed, unrealized, unripe, unseen, veiled, vestigial |
| Antonyms: | active, apparent, clear, live, manifest, obvious, open, public |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2012 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2012 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
