passive voice

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passive voice

noun passive voices

  1. uncountable, usually The form of a transitive verb in which its subject receives the action. The passive voice is sometimes criticized for de-emphasizing the actor.
  2. proscribed, uncountable, usually Any 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.

Opposite: active voice

Thesaurus

noun

Opposite: active voice

Translations

Every language

noun grammatical term

Españolvoz pasiva
한국어수동태 sudongtae
日本語受動態 judōtai, 受身 ukemi, 所相 shosō
中文被動語態 /被动语态 bèidòng yǔtài
Portuguêsvoz passiva
Françaisvoix passive
DeutschLeideform, Leidform, Leidensform, Passiv, Passivum, Passivform
Italianodiatesi passiva, forma passiva, passivo
Ελληνικάπαθητική φωνή pathitikí foní
Românădiateză pasivă
Русскийстрада́тельный зало́г stradátelʹnyj zalóg, пасси́в passív, пасси́вный зало́г passívnyj zalóg
Tiếng Việtdạng bị động
العربيةصِيغَة مَجْهُول ṣīḡat majhūl, مَبْنِي مَجْهُول mabnī majhūl

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MLA

"passive voice." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/passive%20voice. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

passive voice. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/passive%20voice

Chicago

"passive voice." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/passive%20voice.

BibTeX
@misc{passive_voice_2026,
  title = {passive voice},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/passive%20voice},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}