different between passive vs unexcitable

English

Etymology

From Middle English passyf, passyve, from Middle French, French passif, from Latin passivus (“serving to express the suffering of an action; in late Latin literally capable of suffering or feeling”), from passus, past participle of pati (“to suffer”); compare patient.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: p?s?-?v, IPA^(key): /?pæs.?v/
• Rhymes: -æs?v
• Hyphenation: pas?sive

Adjective

passive (comparative more passive, superlative most passive)

1. Being subjected to an action without producing a reaction.
2. Taking no action.

   He remained passive during the protest.

3. (grammar) Being in the passive voice.
4. (psychology) Being inactive and submissive in a relationship, especially in a sexual one.
5. (finance) Not participating in management.
6. (aviation) Without motive power.

   a passive balloon; a passive aeroplane; passive flight, such as gliding and soaring

7. (electronics) Of a component: that consumes but does not produce energy, or is incapable of power gain.
8. (passive provision) Where allowance is made for a possible future event.

   Antonym: active

Synonyms

• inactive
• idle
• disinterested
• uninvolved

Antonyms

• active
• aggressive

Derived terms

Related terms

• passion
• passionate
• patience
• patient

Translations

Noun

passive (plural passives)

1. (grammar) The passive voice of verbs.
2. (grammar) A form of a verb that is in the passive voice.
3. (marketing) A customer who is satisfied with a product or service, but not keen enough to promote it by word of mouth.
   • 2014, Roy Barnes, Bob Kelleher, Customer Experience For Dummies (page 266)

     If you want to improve your organization's NPS, you need to follow up with your detractors, passives, and promoters to understand why they answered your question as they did and what you can do better in the future.

4. (electronics) Any component that consumes but does not produce energy, or is incapable of power gain.
   • 2001, The Virginia Engineer (volume 50, page 20)

     Reductions In Both Size And Weight Offered By Integrated Passives
     You may not know it yet, but if you're like most consumers, you want integrated passives.

   • 2010, Sridhar Canumalla, Puligandla Viswanadham, Portable Consumer Electronics: Packaging, Materials, and Reliability

     The components include active devices such as logic, memory, processors, etc.; passives such as capacitors, resistors, crystal oscillators, inductances, etc.; […]

Translations

Further reading

• passive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• passive in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• pavises

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa.siv/

Adjective

passive

1. feminine singular of passif

Verb

passive

1. first-person singular present indicative of passiver
2. third-person singular present indicative of passiver
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of passiver
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of passiver
5. second-person singular imperative of passiver

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

passive

1. inflection of passiv:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pas.?si.ve/, [pas.si?.ve]
• Hyphenation: pas?sì?ve

Adjective

passive f pl

1. feminine plural of passivo

Anagrams

• spesavi

Middle English

Adjective

passive

1. Alternative form of passyf

Noun

passive

1. Alternative form of passyf

English

Etymology

From un- +? excitable.

Adjective

unexcitable (comparative more unexcitable, superlative most unexcitable)

1. Not excitable, not easily excited.
   • 1889, Frank R. Stockton, The Great War Syndicate, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., p. 55,^[1]

     Ordinarily the commandant of the fort was of a calm and unexcitable temperament. During the astounding events of that day and the day before he had kept his head cool; his judgment, if not correct, was the result of sober and earnest consideration.

   • 1957, Muriel Spark, The Comforters, London: Macmillan, Chapter Seven,

     […] he remembered how terse and unexcitable the jeweller was, so different from those gem-dealers who, meeting with each other on the pavements at Hatton Garden, could not contain for two seconds their business verve, nor refrain from displaying there and then their tiny precious wares, produced out of waistcoat pockets and wrapped in tissue paper.

   Synonyms: cool-headed, even-tempered

2. Not capable of being excited.
   • 1664, Henry More, A Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity, London: W. Morden, Book II, Chapter 7, p. 128,^[2]

     But suppose that these pretended living Stones of the Temple of God were as unexcitable to Pride or Lust as the dead Stones of the walls of a Church […]

   • 1794, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, London: J. Johnson, Volume I, Section 12, 2. Of sensorial Exertion, p. 79,^[3]

     When the spirit of animation is thus exhausted by useless exertions, the organ becomes torpid or unexcitable into action, and a second fit of quiescence succeeds that of abundant activity.

   • 1835, Catharine Sedgwick, The Linwoods, New York: Harper & Brothers, Volume 2, Chapter , p. 222,^[4]

     Isabella […] had been misled, as most inexperienced observers are in similar cases, by the tranquillity of Eliot’s manner; she respected and liked him exceedingly; but she thought him unexcitable, and incapable of passion.

Translations