"passives" in the noun sense
1. passive voice, passive
the voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is the recipient (not the source) of the action denoted by the verb
"`The ball was thrown by the boy' uses the passive voice"
"`The ball was thrown' is an abbreviated passive"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.
View WordNet® License