Synonym Chooser

How is the word passive different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of passive are idle, inactive, inert, and supine. While all these words mean "not engaged in work or activity," passive implies immobility or lack of normally expected response to an external force or influence and often suggests deliberate submissiveness or self-control.

passive resistance

When might idle be a better fit than passive?

While in some cases nearly identical to passive, idle applies to persons that are not busy or occupied or to their powers or their implements.

workers were idle in the fields

When can inactive be used instead of passive?

Although the words inactive and passive have much in common, inactive applies to anyone or anything not in action or in operation or at work.

on inactive status as an astronaut
inactive accounts

Where would inert be a reasonable alternative to passive?

While the synonyms inert and passive are close in meaning, inert as applied to things implies powerlessness to move or to affect other things; as applied to persons it suggests an inherent or habitual indisposition to activity.

inert ingredients in drugs
an inert citizenry

When is supine a more appropriate choice than passive?

The words supine and passive are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, supine applies only to persons and commonly implies abjectness or indolence.

a supine willingness to play the fool

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of passive Black folks were not passive players in the drama of slavery and freedom. David Wright Faladé, Chicago Tribune, 19 June 2025 The construction material can absorb an immense amount of liquid, while sweating is the body’s primary method to leverage evaporation’s passive cooling effects. Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 18 June 2025 And thanks to the passive energy design properties, the abode stays cool in the hot L.A. summers and warm during chilly winter nights while keeping energy bills low. Tori Latham, Robb Report, 18 June 2025 Automate and Delegate From the Start If your goal is passive income, don’t wait to automate. Lien De Pau, Forbes.com, 13 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for passive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for passive
Adjective
  • If 28 Days Later presaged our post-9/11 paranoia and dread, 28 Years Later settles into the resigned gloom of our modern age, where everything is rubbish and only getting worse.
    Tim Grierson, Vulture, 20 June 2025
  • His resigned air in the press conference felt like a man who had too much to juggle to cross over the line first.
    Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • The scale asks whether a respondent tends to prefer children who are obedient, well behaved and well mannered or children who are independent, creative and considerate.
    Adam Eichen, The Conversation, 11 June 2025
  • Those who tend to favor obedient children are scored as having more authoritarian views.
    Adam Eichen, The Conversation, 11 June 2025
Adjective
  • Where Chelsea’s domestic overseers have been largely acquiescent to their accounting ingenuity, the same can’t be said abroad.
    Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2025
  • Netanyahu appears convinced that his country’s security, along with his own political survival, depends on prolonging the military offensives and keeping both Gaza and Lebanon ungovernable, and therefore acquiescent.
    Mohanad Hage Ali, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2024

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Cite this Entry

“Passive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/passive. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on passive

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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