How to use passively in a sentence
26 example sentences · adverb
Passively means in a passive manner; without conscious or self-directed action. Example: “Water flowed passively between tanks via the siphon.”
Examples of passively by meaning
adverbIn a passive manner; without conscious or self-directed action.
- Water flowed passively between tanks via the siphon.2000, Brian D. Wisenden, “Scents of Danger”, in Animal Signals: signalling and signal design in animal communication, page 369
- Due to this pressure aortic and pulmonary valves are opened passively and due to relaxation blood is sucked from the venae cavae into the atrium.2007, Klaus Dieter Budras et al., Anatomy of the Dog, page 188
- Not so for otroverts, who are neither willing nor able to passively adopt the social scripts that others do.2025 June 19, Rami Kaminski, ““Otroverts” and why nonconformists often see what others can’t”, in Big Think
adverbIn an acquiescent manner; resignedly or submissively.
- Paradoxically, the same faculty who complain about busyness are most likely to end up waiting passively.1997, Gary A. Olson, Todd W. Taylor, Publishing in Rhetoric and Composition, page 218
- They were not waving at him but sat passively as if waiting to hear if what he had to say would be derogatory to their previous relationship.1998, Wallace Collins, Dragon Fire, page 9
adverbIn the passive voice; having a passive construction.
- Statements phrased in an active voice, with a few outcome-oriented goals, improve school performance more than those stated passively with either multiple goals or goals focused on processes or behaviors.2008, Timothy J. Conlan, Alice M. Rivlin, Paul L. Posner, Intergovernmental Management for the Twenty-first Century, page 214
More sentences with passively
- He watched it passively, over and over, and never saw it.2019 April 10, qntm, “CASE HATE RED”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 140. From the entry leach
- The recent growth of index funds, which collect all stocks in passively managed portfolios, follows that insight.2013, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, “Trendspotting in Asset Markets (Prize in Economic Sciences 2013 / Popular Science…. From the entry mutual fund
- Fortunately, this kind of thinking will soon migrate from being passively stupid to being prosecutably malfeasant.2006, Stuart Robbins, Lessons in Grid Computing: The System Is a Mirror. From the entry prosecutably
- It weeds out people who aren’t actually interested in meeting up and are using the app passively,” Hoggard Wagley says.2023 March 6, Alexis Jones, Megan Schaltegger, “These Tinder Conversation Starters Actually Work, According To Dating Experts”, in Women's…. From the entry weed out
- She is notorious for being incapable of passively enjoying stories.2016, Kathleen Smith, The Fangirl Life: A Guide to All the Feels and Learning How to Deal, Penguin, →ISBN. From the entry fangirl
- The assertiveness training sessions involved role-playing in a given situation in three ways, viz., underassertively (passively), overassertively (aggressively), and assertively.2014, Dr. Jane Akponye, Children of Divorced Parents, →ISBN. From the entry underassertively
- I began drifting and presently encountered a man sitting on a khatiya, gazing passively into the scorched fields across the road.2005, Rahul Bhattacharya, Pundits from Pakistan. From the entry khatiya
- The two brushes on each chela snap open into semicircular fans, forming fine-mesh baskets that passively filter water.2004, Raymond T. Bauer, Remarkable Shrimps: Adaptations and Natural History of the Carideans, page 26. From the entry chela
- These can influence our behavior, passively and actively.2000, Paul van Dijk, Anthropology in the Age of Technology: The Philosophical Contributions of Günther Anders, →ISBN, pages 77–78. From the entry superliminal
- It had become a dogma, to be believed passively without even trying to ascertain its probability or validity.1982, Alexandra David-Neel, Aphur Yongden, translated by Janwillem van de Wetering, The Power of Nothingness, Houghton Mifflin Company…. From the entry Tibetan
- Steady-state solutions for the motion of a passively gravitating globular cluster (GC) inside an inhomogeneous, rotating, ellipsoidal elliptical galaxy (EG) are considered.2012, S. A. Gasanov, “Steady-state solutions for the motion of a globular cluster in an inhomogeneous, rotating elliptical galaxy”, in…. From the entry homeoid
- In a bipartisan ode to the unrocked boat, the committee sat passively through corruption scandals in the last Congress that put two lawmakers behind bars.2007 November 28, “House Cleaning”, in New York Times. From the entry unrocked
- Passively accepting the wordscape at any point leads to a 'hardening of the categories', a freezing of the metaphors through which our experience is filtered.2007, Stephen Bowkett, 100+ Ideas for Teaching Creativity, Bloomsbury Academic, →ISBN, page 24. From the entry wordscape
- A group of rice farmers in the small northern town of Chutung has decided to boost consumption rather than to passively reduce production.1995 March 1, “Can Rice Rise Again?”, in Taiwan Today, archived from the original on 16 Oct 2022. From the entry Chutung
- To me, the data clearly indicate a simple response to food availability, with the oldest young passively out-competing its smaller sibling for a limited resource.1981 winter, Ralph W. Schreiber, “Book Review: The Eastern Bering Sea Shelf: Oceanography and Resources, 1981. Edited by D. W. Hood and J.…. From the entry siblicide
- Though this sentiment can be reassuring at times, it is not an excuse for passively watching life parade by, especially when you have the ability to do otherwise.2009, Margie Warrell, Find Your Courage, McGraw Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 154. From the entry meant to be
- The graft is nourished initially by plasmatic imbibition, or plasmatic circulation, a process whereby plasma is imbibed passively by capillary action into the exposed lumen of the graft's vessels.2009, Ted S. Stashak, Christine Theoret, Equine Wound Management, page 510. From the entry plasmatic
- Culture jamming baldly rejects the idea that marketing — because it buys its way into our public spaces — must be passively accepted as a one-way information flow.1999, Naomi Klein, No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. From the entry culture jamming
- He could not stand passively by in wooden indifference to Shiona, nor to her people, nor could he ignore his conscience which tugged peacelessly at him.1994, John Lister-Kaye, chapter 23, in One for Sorrow, Nairn: Balnain Books, →ISBN, page 202. From the entry peacelessly
- However, the region was in the United States backyard and Britain should look passively on with acquiescence in whatever policy the United States saw fit to pursue about Mexico.1942, Wilfrid Hardy Callcott, The Caribbean policy of the United States, 1890-1920, page 343. From the entry backyard
Meaning of passively
- adverb In a passive manner; without conscious or self-directed action.
- adverb In an acquiescent manner; resignedly or submissively.
- adverb In the passive voice; having a passive construction.
Questions about passively in a sentence
- How do you use passively in a sentence?
- Passively is used as an adverb. For example: “Water flowed passively between tanks via the siphon.”
- What is a short sentence with passively?
- “These can influence our behavior, passively and actively.”
- What does passively mean?
- Passively means in a passive manner; without conscious or self-directed action.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: passively (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use passively in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/passively. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
