释义 |
passiveness|ˈpæsɪvnɪs| [f. as prec. + -ness.] The quality or condition of being passive, passivity; in Grammar, the being in the passive voice.
a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. iv. 75 Mere body, which will be recoiling back perpetually into its own inert and sluggish passiveness. 1678R. Barclay Apol. Quakers v. §17. 149 In him that is saved, the working is of the Grace and not of the Man; and it's a Passiveness, rather than an Act. 1798Wordsw. Expost. & Reply 24, I deem that there are Powers Which of themselves our minds impress; That we can feed this mind of ours In a wise passiveness. 1832H. Martineau Ireland v. 78 Dora's passiveness arose from a sense of the uselessness of opposition. 1845Stoddart in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) I. 41/1 It signifies activity with actives, and passiveness with passives..but indeed it always savours, in some degree, of passiveness. |