Meaning & use
passive resistance
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Meanings
noununcountable
Opposition to a government or rule carried out without violence, for example by refusing to obey or take part.
Grammar: Uncountable: practice passive resistance, not a passive resistance.
Patterns
- passive resistance to something
- a campaign of passive resistance
The workers answered the new rules with passive resistance, sitting calmly at their desks.
Gandhi's campaign of passive resistance changed how many people saw protest.
The villagers offered passive resistance by refusing to pay the tax.
noununcountableinformal
A quiet refusal to cooperate with someone, shown through inaction rather than argument.
Grammar: Used about everyday behavior as well as politics.
Patterns
- meet something with passive resistance
His passive resistance to cleaning the garage drove his family crazy.
The students met the extra homework with passive resistance and handed in nothing.
Common combinations
- a campaign of passive resistance
- The group began a campaign of passive resistance against the new law.
- offer passive resistance
- The protesters offered passive resistance when police asked them to move.
- adopt passive resistance
- The union adopted passive resistance instead of striking.
- policy of passive resistance
- A policy of passive resistance kept the protest peaceful.
- meet with passive resistance
- The reforms were met with passive resistance from staff.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nonviolent resistance
- Nonviolent resistance stresses that violence is rejected on principle, while passive resistance stresses refusing to act.
- civil disobedience
- Civil disobedience means openly breaking a law to protest it, which is more active than passive resistance.
- noncooperation
- Noncooperation names the refusal to help, and passive resistance is the wider strategy built on it.
- obstruction
- Obstruction suggests actively getting in the way, but passive resistance avoids confrontation.
Opposites
Word family
- resist verb
- to oppose or refuse to give in
- resistance noun
- the act of opposing something
- passive adjective
- accepting things without taking action
- resistant adjective
- unwilling to accept or be changed by something
Commonly confused: passive resistance or passive aggression?
passive resistance vs passive aggression
Passive aggression is indirect hostility such as sulking, while passive resistance is a principled refusal to cooperate.
Practice
The villagers refused to pay the unfair tax, but they never raised a hand against anyone. Their protest is best described as ____.
Choose one answer.
Refusing to cooperate without violence is passive resistance. Armed rebellion, a riot and an invasion all involve force.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “passive resistance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.