<B>passing, </B>adjective, noun, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>that goes by or passes. <DD><B> 2. </B>done or given in passing; transient; fleeting. <BR> <I>Ex. a passing smile.</I> (SYN) transitory. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) cursory; incidental. <BR> <I>Ex. passing mention, a passing fancy.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>that is now happening. <BR> <I>Ex. the passing scene.</I> <DD><B> 5a. </B>allowing a person to pass an examination, test, or course. <BR> <I>Ex. 75 will be a passing mark.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>in charge of testing and passing candidates; examining. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Archaic.) surpassing; preeminent. <BR> <I>Ex. 'Tis a passing shame (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the act of one that passes; going by; departure. <DD><B> 2. </B>a means or place of passing. <BR> <I>Ex. A river Runs in three loops around her livingplace; And o'er it are three passings (Tennyson).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) death. <BR> <I>Ex. The passing of Einstein was a great blow to science.</I> <DD><I>adv. </I> surpassingly; very. <BR> <I>Ex. Our love was passing fair and wove a wondrous spell (Harper's).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in passing,</B> </I>by the way; incidentally; in that connection. <BR> <I>Ex. The translation, to note this in passing, is not without faults (Nikolaus Pevsner).</I> adv. <B>passingly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="passingbell">
<B>passing bell,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a bell tolled to announce that a death has just occurred or that a funeral is taking place. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a portent or sign of the passing away of anything. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the passing bell of tyranny (Shelley).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="passingnote">
<B>passing note,</B> <B>=passing tone.</B></DL>
<A NAME="passingshot">
<B>passing shot,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a tennis ball hit to the side and beyond the reach of an opponent near the net. </DL>
<A NAME="passingtone">
<B>passing tone,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a musical tone not essential to the harmony, introduced between two successive notes in order to produce a melodic transition. </DL>
<A NAME="passion">
<B>passion, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a very strong feeling; emotion. <BR> <I>Ex. Hate and fear are passions. The opera star sang with great passion.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>Often, <B>passions.</B> strong feelings or emotions as an obstacle to civilized conduct or rational behavior. <BR> <I>Ex. Passions have their root in that which is crippled, blemished, or insecure within us (Harper's).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a fit or mood of some emotion, especially violent anger; rage. <BR> <I>Ex. He flew into a passion, shouting insults at us. She broke into a passion of tears (Dickens).</I> <DD><B> 4a. </B>a very strong love or desire between a man and a woman. <BR> <I>Ex. I love thee so, that ... Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a person who is the object of such love or desire. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) <DD><B> a. </B>a very strong liking. <BR> <I>Ex. Her passion for caraway seeds, for instance, was uncontrollable (Lytton Strachey).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a thing for which a strong liking is felt. <BR> <I>Ex. Music is her passion.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Archaic.) suffering. <DD><B> 7. </B>Often, <B>the Passion.</B> <DD><B> a. </B>the sufferings of Jesus on the Cross or after the Last Supper. <DD><B> b. </B>the story of these sufferings in the Bible. <DD><B> c. </B>a musical setting of this story. <BR> <I>Ex. Bach's Passion According to Saint Matthew.</I> <DD><B> d. </B>a representation in art of the sufferings of Christ. <DD><B> 8a. </B>the fact or condition of being affected by external force. <BR> <I>Ex. The word passion signifies the receiving any action, in a large philosophical sense (Isaac Watts).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>an effect produced by action from without. </DL>
<A NAME="passional">
<B>passional, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with passion or the passions. <BR> <I>Ex. passional crimes.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a book containing accounts of the sufferings (passions) of saints and martyrs, for reading on their festival days. </DL>
<A NAME="passionary">
<B>passionary, </B>noun, pl. <B>-aries.</B> <B>=passional.</B></DL>
<A NAME="passionate">
<B>passionate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having or showing strong feelings. <BR> <I>Ex. The fathers of our country were passionate believers in freedom.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>easily moved to strong feelings, especially to violent anger. <BR> <I>Ex. My brother was passionate, and had often beaten me, which I took extremely amiss (Benjamin Franklin).</I> (SYN) quick-tempered, irascible, fiery. <DD><B> 3. </B>resulting from strong feeling. <BR> <I>Ex. He made a passionate speech against surrender.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>having or showing a very strong love or desire, as of a man for a woman. <BR> <I>Ex. a passionate lover.</I> adv. <B>passionately.</B> noun <B>passionateness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="passionflower">
<B>passionflower, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any one of a genus of mostly American climbing plants with flowers supposed to suggest the crown of thorns, the nails, and the Cross of Christ's crucifixion. Passionflowers are grown for their edible, yellowish or purple fruits and their large, showy flowers. <DD><B> 2. </B>the flower of any one of these plants. </DL>
<A NAME="passionfruit">
<B>passionfruit, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the fruit of a passionflower, when edible, such as the maypop. </DL>
<A NAME="passionist">
<B>Passionist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of the Congregation of Discalced (barefooted) Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a Roman Catholic order founded by St. Paul of the Cross, in Italy, in 1720. The members are pledged to the utmost zeal in keeping fresh the memory of Christ's passion. </DL>
<B>passion music,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> dramatic vocal music that tells the Gospel story of the sufferings and death of Christ, usually sung during Holy Week. </DL>
<A NAME="passionplay">
<B>Passion Play</B> or <B>passion play,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a play about the sufferings and death of Christ. One is given every ten years at Oberammergau, Germany. </DL>
<A NAME="passionsunday">
<B>Passion Sunday,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the second Sunday before Easter Sunday. It is the fifth Sunday in Lent. </DL>
<A NAME="passiontide">
<B>Passiontide, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the last two weeks of Lent. </DL>
<A NAME="passionvine">
<B>passion vine,</B> <B>=passionflower.</B></DL>
<A NAME="passionweek">
<B>Passion Week,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the second week before Easter; fifth week in Lent, between Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday. <DD><B> 2. </B>(in some Eastern Orthodox churches) week before Easter; Holy Week. </DL>
<A NAME="passivate">
<B>passivate, </B>transitive verb, <B>-vated,</B> <B>-vating.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to make chemically passive. noun <B>passivation.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="passive">
<B>passive, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>not acting in return; being acted on without itself acting. <BR> <I>Ex. a passive mind, a passive disposition.</I> (SYN) impassive. <DD><B> 2. </B>not resisting; yielding or submitting to the will of another. <BR> <I>Ex. The slaves gave passive obedience to their master. It would not be a passive condition, but eminently constructive (London Times).</I> (SYN) submissive, unresisting, patient. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Grammar.) <DD><B> a. </B>showing the subject as acted upon. In "The window was broken by John," <I>was broken</I> is in the passive voice. <DD><B> b. </B>having to do with the passive voice. <DD><B> 4. </B>not readily entering into chemical combination; inert; inactive. <DD><B> 5. </B>used to reflect but not amplify energy pulses. <BR> <I>Ex. a passive radar, a passive lunar seismograph.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>of or having to do with an infection or other abnormal condition of the body, as of an organ in the body, that causes reduced vitality and imperfect muscular reaction. <DD><B> 7. </B>(of a note, bond, share of stock, or the like) not bearing interest, but entitling the holder to some future benefit or claim. <DD><B> 8. </B>(of a nuclear reactor) using natural forces such as gravity and evaporation of water in its safety systems. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B><B>=passive voice.</B> (Abbr:) pass. <DD><B> 2. </B>a verb form or verbal construction in the passive voice. <DD><B> 3. </B>a person or thing that is passive. adv. <B>passively.</B> noun <B>passiveness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="passiveaggressive">
<B>passive-aggressive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> appearing to yield or be a victim of events while actively pursuing a goal or objective; manipulative. <BR> <I>Ex. Her husband before Gabe describes her as "passive-aggressive"--a quiet manipulator (P. Travers).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="passivedefense">
<B>passive defense,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> military or civil defense designed to cope with the effects of an attack, such as bomb shelters do. </DL>
<A NAME="passiveeuthanasia">
<B>passive euthanasia,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the act or fact of causing the death of a person who is incurably ill or injured by withholding artificial measures or extreme treatment necessary to prolong his life. </DL>
<A NAME="passiveimmunity">
<B>passive immunity,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> immunity conferred by injecting into one organism antibodies of a serum obtained from another organism. </DL>
<A NAME="passivelysafe">
<B>passively safe,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (of a nuclear reactor) having safety features that rely on natural forces to operate. </DL>
<A NAME="passiveresistance">
<B>passive resistance,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> peaceful refusal to comply with a law, injunction, or rule, especially as a form of resistance to a government or other authority. <BR> <I>Ex. Civil Rights protests of passive resistance.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="passiverestraint">
<B>passive restraint,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a device, such as an airbag, in an automobile that automatically protects the occupants from dangerous injury in an accident. </DL>
<A NAME="passivesatellite">
<B>passive satellite,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a communications satellite that reflects a signal but does not receive it and transmit it again. </DL>
<A NAME="passivesmoker">
<B>passive smoker,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who is subjected to passive smoking. </DL>
<A NAME="passivesmoking">
<B>passive smoking,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the inhaling of smoke from other people's cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. </DL>
<A NAME="passivevoice">
<B>passive voice,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a form of transitive verbs used to represent the subject as acted upon, not acting. In "A letter was written by me," <I>was written</I> is in the passive voice. </DL>
