3 N‑SING [with poss] You can refer to someone's death as their passing , if you want to avoid using the word 'death' because you think it might upset or offend people. □ His passing will be mourned by many people.
4 N‑SING The passing of a period of time is the fact or process of its going by. □ [+ of ] The passing of time brought a sense of emptiness.
5 ADJ [ADJ n] A passing mention or reference is brief and is made while you are talking or writing about something else. □ It was just a passing comment, he didn't go on about it.
6 → see also pass
7 PHRASE If you mention something in passing , you mention it briefly while you are talking or writing about something else. □ The army is only mentioned in passing.
pas|sion ◆◇◇ /pæ ʃ ə n/ (passions )
1 N‑UNCOUNT Passion is strong sexual feelings towards someone. □ [+ for ] …my passion for a dark-haired, slender boy named James. □ …the expression of love and passion.
2 N‑UNCOUNT Passion is a very strong feeling about something or a strong belief in something. □ He spoke with great passion.
3 N‑COUNT If you have a passion for something, you have a very strong interest in it and like it very much. □ [+ for ] She had a passion for gardening.
pas|sion|ate /pæ ʃənət/
1 ADJ A passionate person has very strong feelings about something or a strong belief in something. □ …his passionate commitment to peace. □ I'm a passionate believer in public art. □ [+ about ] He is very passionate about the project. ● pas|sion|ate|ly ADV □ I am passionately opposed to the death penalty.
2 ADJ A passionate person has strong romantic or sexual feelings and expresses them in their behaviour. □ …a beautiful, passionate woman of twenty-six. ● pas|sion|ate|ly ADV □ He was passionately in love with her.
pa s|sion fruit (passion fruit ) N‑VAR A passion fruit is a small, round, brown fruit that is produced by certain types of tropical flower.
pas|sion|less /pæ ʃ ə nləs/ ADJ If you describe someone or something as passionless , you mean that they do not have or show strong feelings. □ …a passionless academic. □ …their late and apparently passionless marriage.
pas|sive /pæ s I v/
1 ADJ If you describe someone as passive , you mean that they do not take action but instead let things happen to them. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ His passive attitude made things easier for me. ● pas|sive|ly ADV [usu ADV with v] □ He sat there passively, content to wait for his father to make the opening move. ● pas|sivi|ty /pæs I v I ti/ N‑UNCOUNT □ [+ of ] …the passivity of the public under the military occupation.
2 ADJ [ADJ n] A passive activity involves watching, looking at, or listening to things rather than doing things. □ They want less passive ways of filling their time.
3 ADJ [ADJ n] Passive resistance involves showing opposition to the people in power in your country by not co-operating with them and protesting in non-violent ways. □ When police arrived, the protesters used passive resistance to continue their protest.
4 N‑SING In grammar, the passive or the passive voice is formed using 'be' and the past participle of a verb. The subject of a passive clause does not perform the action expressed by the verb but is affected by it. For example, in 'He's been murdered', the verb is in the passive. Compare active .
pa s|sive smo k|ing N‑UNCOUNT Passive smoking involves breathing in the smoke from other people's cigarettes because you happen to be near them. □ …the dangers of passive smoking.
Pass|over /pɑː soʊvə r , pæ s-/ N‑UNCOUNT [oft the N ] Passover is a Jewish festival that begins in March or April and lasts for seven or eight days. Passover begins with a special meal that reminds Jewish people of how God helped their ancestors escape from Egypt.
pass|port /pɑː spɔː r t, pæ s-/ (passports )
1 N‑COUNT Your passport is an official document containing your name, photograph, and personal details, which you need to show when you enter or leave a country. □ You should take your passport with you when changing money. □ …a South African businessman travelling on a British passport.
2 N‑COUNT If you say that a thing is a passport to success or happiness, you mean that this thing makes success or happiness possible. □ [+ to ] Victory would give him a passport to the riches he craves.
pass|word /pɑː swɜː r d, pæ s-/ (passwords ) N‑COUNT A password is a secret word or phrase that you must know in order to be allowed to enter a place such as a military base, or to be allowed to use a computer system. □ No-one could use the computer unless they had a password.
past ◆◆◆ /pɑː st, pæ st/ (pasts ) In addition to the uses shown below, past is used in the phrasal verb 'run past'. 1 N‑SING The past is the time before the present, and the things that have happened. □ In the past, about a third of the babies born to women with diabetes were lost. □ He should learn from the mistakes of the past. We have been here before. ● PHRASE If you accuse someone of living in the past , you mean that they think too much about the past or believe that things are the same as they were in the past. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ What was the point in living in the past, thinking about what had or had not happened?
2 N‑COUNT [usu sing] Your past consists of all the things that you have done or that have happened to you. □ …revelations about his past. □ …Germany's recent past.
3 ADJ [ADJ n] Past events and things happened or existed before the present time. □ I knew from past experience that alternative therapies could help. □ The list of past champions includes many British internationals.