passivity

noun

pas·​siv·​i·​ty pa-ˈsi-və-tē 

1

: the quality or state of being passive : passiveness

The only thing that I find more depressing than this charlatan is the passivity of the museum-goers who pass before his works: they may have an inkling that they are being had, but they are unable to trust the evidence of their eyes.

—Jed Perl

… and now she was condemned to years of genteel English poverty by a passivity stubborn as low-grade fever.

—Vivian Gornick

The implication—that American policy makers had, out of some combination of timorous passivity and treasonous perfidy, lost China to Communism—set off one of the darkest-ever turns in American civic life.

—Daniel Kurtz-Phelan

2

chemistry : a chemically inactive state

—used especially of a metal that has lost its normal chemical activity and is resistant to corrosion

The lower limit of 11% is based on the markedly increased corrosion resistance and spontaneous passivity obtained at this level.

—Donald H. DeClerck et al.

Examples of passivity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Nonviolence should not be confused with passivity: as a form of protest, nonviolence is a practice that exposes violence. —Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2024

Whether worn in the street, on public transit or even in the driver's seat, internet users seem to be torn between obsession and passivity. —The Arizona Republic, 6 Feb. 2024

Despite the strange passivity of American leaders on both sides of the aisle in the face of authoritarian aggression, the U.S. remains ally-rich, effectively energy independent, militarily predominant, geographically secure, and technologically superior to its rivals. —Daniel Twining, National Review, 23 Jan. 2024

Agreeableness morphing into passivity or withholding is the opposite of what workers, especially managers, want. —Jane Thier, Fortune, 29 July 2023

But that kind of radical passivity can only go so far. —David Sims, The Atlantic, 14 Feb. 2024

Schwalb’s ideological passivity is making this mayhem possible. —The Editors, National Review, 2 Feb. 2024

Perhaps the most fitting commentary on the administration’s passivity in the Middle East, and particularly the Red Sea, is that its secretary of defense went missing and no one noticed. —The Editors, National Review, 8 Jan. 2024

Still, the film’s version of Priscilla Presley is a woman whose strength lies in her passivity. —Vulture, 27 Oct. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1659, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

passivity

noun

pas·​siv·​i·​ty pa-ˈsiv-ət-ē 

plural passivities

: the quality or state of being passive or submissive