Meanings
plural passive voices
- uncountableusuallygrammarThe form of a transitive verb in which its subject receives the action.
The passive voice is sometimes criticized for de-emphasizing the actor.
1 more example
Many languages, including English, use auxiliary verbs in constructing the passive voice.
- proscribeduncountableusuallyAny writing which obscures the identity of the perpetrator of an action, regardless of whether the sentence uses the passive form of a verb.
Phrases such as officer-involved shooting are often criticized as examples of passive voice.
4 more examples
On Saturday, in his first response to Charlottesville, Mr. Trump condemned the violence "on many sides." Then he lapsed into the passive voice, expressing, as he has before, a sense of futility that the divisions between Americans would ever be healed. "It's been going on for a long time in our country," he said.
2017 August 17, Mark Landler, “Where Predecessors Set Moral Standard, Trump Steps Back”, in New York TimesDescribing how the assault weapon would operate, Zworykin used the passive voice. Interactions that would have relied on both image and operator were attributed instead to airplane and camera. For example, he explains: "The carrier airplane receives the picture viewed by the torpedo while remaining at an altitude beyond artillery range."
2017 October 19, Lisa Parks, Caren Kaplan, Life in the Age of Drone Warfare, Duke University Press, →ISBNAshby: Access to care has always been an issue in certain demographics prior to the pandemic. We talk a lot about disparities, and I actually dislike those terms: disparities and inequality, all that, yada, yada. Harris: Is it the passive voice you don't like?
2021 August 9, Mary Harris, “Newsflash: Coronavirus ain't going anywhere”, in SlateWe are so ingrained to use passive voice to describe things men actively do to us.
2025 March 18, u/biqueen81, “He started choking me during our first kiss.”, in r/TwoXChromosomes (Reddit post), archived from the original on 30 Sep 2026
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is the recipient (not the source) of the action denoted by the verb
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Afrikaans lydende vorm, passief
- lydende vormgrammatical term
- passiefgrammatical term
Arabic صِيغَة مَجْهُول, مَبْنِي مَجْهُول
- صِيغَة مَجْهُول (ṣīḡat majhūl)grammatical term
- مَبْنِي مَجْهُول (mabnī majhūl)grammatical term
Bulgarian страда́телен зало́г, паси́вен зало́г
- страда́телен зало́г (stradátelen zalóg)grammatical term
- паси́вен зало́г (pasíven zalóg)grammatical term
Chinese Mandarin 被動語態 /被动语态
- 被動語態 /被动语态 (bèidòng yǔtài)grammatical term
Czech trpný rod, pasivum
- trpný rodgrammatical term
- pasivumgrammatical term
Danish passiv, lideform
- passivgrammatical term
- lideformgrammatical term
Dutch lijdende vorm, passief
- lijdende vormgrammatical term
- passiefgrammatical term
Esperanto pasiva voĉo
- pasiva voĉogrammatical term
Estonian passiiv, umbisikuline tegumood
- passiivgrammatical term
- umbisikuline tegumoodgrammatical term
Finnish passiivi
- passiivigrammatical term
French voix passive
- voix passivegrammatical term
German Leideform, Leidform
- Leideformgrammatical term
- Leidformgrammatical term
- Leidensformgrammatical term
- Passivgrammatical term
- Passivumgrammatical term
- Passivformgrammatical term
Greek παθητική φωνή
- παθητική φωνή (pathitikí foní)grammatical term
Hungarian passzívum
- passzívumgrammatical term
Icelandic þolmynd, þolmynd sagna
- þolmyndgrammatical term
- þolmynd sagnagrammatical term
Irish faí chéasta
- faí chéastagrammatical term
Italian diatesi passiva, forma passiva
- diatesi passivagrammatical term
- forma passivagrammatical term
- passivogrammatical term
Japanese 受動態, 受身
- 受動態 (judōtai)grammatical term
- 受身 (ukemi)grammatical term
- 所相 (shosō)grammatical term
Korean 수동태
- 수동태 (sudongtae)grammatical term
Latin genus passivum, passivum
- genus passivumgrammatical term
- passivumgrammatical term
Latvian ciešamā kārta, pasīvs
- ciešamā kārtagrammatical term
- pasīvsgrammatical term
Lithuanian neveikiamoji rūšis, pasyvas
- neveikiamoji rūšisgrammatical term
- pasyvasgrammatical term
Malay ragam pasif
- ragam pasifgrammatical term
Māori whakahāngū
- whakahāngūgrammatical term
Norwegian Bokmål passiv
- passivgrammatical term
Polish strona bierna
- strona biernagrammatical term
Portuguese voz passiva
- voz passivagrammatical term
Romanian diateză pasivă
- diateză pasivăgrammatical term
Russian страда́тельный зало́г, пасси́в
- страда́тельный зало́г (stradátelʹnyj zalóg)grammatical term
- пасси́в (passív)grammatical term
- пасси́вный зало́г (passívnyj zalóg)grammatical term
Scottish Gaelic guth fulangach
- guth fulangachgrammatical term
Slovak trpný rod, pasívum
- trpný rodgrammatical term
- pasívumgrammatical term
Spanish voz pasiva
- voz pasivagrammatical term
Swedish passivum, passiv form
- passivumgrammatical term
- passiv formgrammatical term
Tagalog tinig-balintiyak
- tinig-balintiyakgrammatical term
Thai กรรมวาจก
- กรรมวาจก (gam-má-waa-jòk)grammatical term
Ukrainian паси́вний стан, паси́в
- паси́вний стан (pasývnyj stan)grammatical term
- паси́в (pasýv)grammatical term
Vietnamese dạng bị động
- dạng bị độnggrammatical term
Welsh stâd oddefol
- stâd oddefolgrammatical term
Cite this entry
passive voice. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/passive%20voice
“passive voice.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/passive%20voice. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “passive voice,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/passive%20voice.
Source: passive voice on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.