Both Uses
passive
in
The Scarlet Letter
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- There was a listlessness in his gait, as if he saw no reason for taking one step further, nor felt any desire to do so, but would have been glad, could he be glad of anything, to fling himself down at the root of the nearest tree, and lie there passive for evermore.†
p. 175.2 *
- Children have always a sympathy in the agitations of those connected with them: always, especially, a sense of any trouble or impending revolution, of whatever kind, in domestic circumstances; and therefore Pearl, who was the gem on her mother's unquiet bosom, betrayed, by the very dance of her spirits, the emotions which none could detect in the marble passiveness of Hester's brow.†
p. 213.3
Definitions:
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(1)
(passive as in: she remained passive) accepting what happens without trying to take control or reacting strongly
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(2)
(passive as in: written using the passive voice) grammar: where the subject receives the action rather than doing it"The dog chased the cat." is written in the active voice where the dog is doing the action. "The cat was chased by the dog" is written in the passive voice where the cat is receiving the action.
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) More specialized senses of the word are found in chemistry, physics, electronics, and communications. All senses have to do with inactivity.