unparticipatingadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnpɑːˈtɪsᵻpeɪtɪŋ/, U.S. /ˌənpɑrˈtɪsᵻˌpeɪdɪŋ/ That does not participate or take part (in something).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > [adjective] > taking no part in action
unpartaking1606
unparticipating1782
non-acting1838
unparticipative1854
1782 J. Douglas Travelling Anecd. I. 193 Cold, and unparticipating in my fervour, did this bear-leader cast his sullen eyes on the picture.
1795 S. T. Coleridge Let. 13 Nov. (1956) I. 171 An unparticipating Propensity.
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. II. xv. 16 It is throughout as if a superior spirit..were placing the whole before our view; himself meanwhile unparticipating in the passions.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus i. iii. 6/1 He was a man so still and altogether unparticipating, that to question him..was a thing of more than usual delicacy.
1858 Dublin Univ. Mag. Nov. 618/1 Soon the assault became more violent, and Hans could not remain an unparticipating spectator.
1920 H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. 388/1 Something..in our race has striven continually to convert civilization from its original reliance upon unparticipating obedience into a community of participating wills.
1957 J. Bayley Romantic Survival ix. 137 Glimpses of life, brilliantly concrete, but seen from the unparticipating outside.
2009 W. A. Johnson Anc. Literacies xiii. 323 An appraising but largely unparticipating crowd.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1782