passive resistance
3
5.6
- noun
- /ˈpæsɪv rɪˈzɪstəns/
:
resistencia pasiva
- During the protest, the students practiced passive resistance by refusing to attend classes until their voices were heard.
- offered passive resistance
Examples
-
During the evictions, some of the squatters used passive resistance tactics, i.e., running away into the forests when officials came.
Academic text (2005) -
Immigrants themselves offered their own passive resistance by refusing to enroll in Americanization programs on a sustained basis.
Academic text (2001) -
Well, is this the voice of passive resistance speaking?
-
Some of us were doing passive resistance.
Fiction book (1997) -
The organization aimed at six goals, five of them a form of passive resistance, and each had its own branch.
Fiction book (1994) -
When I offered passive resistance, I was punished.
Academic text (2006) -
Passive resistance, for example, can effectively block the implementation of the most carefully designed policy.
Academic text (1990) -
Yet Eli refuses to budge, continuing his passive resistance and his litigation.
Academic text (2002) -
Within fifteen days of the invasion, after recovering from their shock, the Kuwaitis were beginning a form of passive resistance, of civil disobedience.
Fiction book (1994) -
In 1906, a young Gandhi witnessed British Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst leading women in passive resistance and hunger strikes.
Blog text (28)
Synonyms
2
3.9
A way of opposing a government without using violence, for example by refusing to obey laws
How Active
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'passive' modifies 'resistance' to indicate a non-active or nonviolent form of opposition, so a learner who knows both words can infer refusal to cooperate or nonviolent opposition. The concept and lexical pattern exist in many languages (e.g., resistencia pasiva, résistance passive), which further supports predictable interpretation for B1 learners.
Etymology
Passive resistance comes from the image of people who oppose power without fighting: the word passive means calm or not using force and resistance means pushing back. That's why it means 'a way to oppose authority without violence', for example by 'refusing to cooperate', sitting in, fasting, or boycotts.