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

Even so, their passivity was seriously disturbing to the Blackhawks fans in the arena. —Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2025

Love and partnership thrive on proactivity, not passivity. —Colin Bedell, Them, 28 Feb. 2025

The devices, in imposing passivity on their users, implicate them in the destruction and absolve them at the same time. —Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2025

More than once, that passivity slipped into calamity. —Laurie Whitwell, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1659, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for passivity

• acclivity
• activity
• captivity
• declivity
• festivity
• nativity
• proclivity
• absorptivity
• affectivity
• collectivity
• conductivity
• connectivity

Medical Definition

passivity

noun

pas·​siv·​i·​ty pa-ˈsiv-ət-ē 

plural passivities

: the quality or state of being passive or submissive