Passivity
[pæ'sɪvɪtɪ] or [pæ'sɪvəti]
Definition
(noun.) the trait of remaining inactive; a lack of initiative.
(noun.) submission to others or to outside influences.
Checked by Conan--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Passiveness; -- opposed to activity.
(n.) The tendency of a body to remain in a given state, either of motion or rest, till disturbed by another body; inertia.
(n.) The quality or condition of any substance which has no inclination to chemical activity; inactivity.
Checker: Presley
Examples
- His blue eyes burned with a keen, yet cold light, there was a certain beauty, a beautiful passivity in all his body, his moulding. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- All educational reformers, as we have had occasion to remark, are given to attacking the passivity of traditional education. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But there is a kind of passivity, willingness to let experiences accumulate and sink in and ripen, which is an essential of development. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- She sat still and let Tantripp put on her bonnet and shawl, a passivity which was unusual with her, for she liked to wait on herself. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Another dualism is that of activity and passivity in knowing. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
Inputed by Dan