adj inactive; inert; not showing strong affinity; as, red phosphorus is comparatively passive.
2. passive ·adj not active, but acted upon; suffering or receiving impressions or influences; as, they were passive spectators, not actors in the scene.
3. passive ·adj receiving or enduring without either active sympathy or active resistance; without emotion or excitement; patient; not opposing; unresisting; as, passive obedience; passive submission.
4. passive ·adj designating certain morbid conditions, as hemorrhage or dropsy, characterized by relaxation of the vessels and tissues, with deficient vitality and lack of reaction in the affected tissues.