as in dove
a person who opposes war or warlike policies
a committed pacifist, Gandhi succeeded in bringing about Indian independence using only nonviolence
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
or pacifistic
as in neutral
inclined to live in peace and to avoid war
the newspaper's editorial board has clearly staked out a pacifist position on the current conflict
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pacifist
Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
Both parents were ardent foes of racial inequality, his mother as a pacifist, his father carrying a gun.
—Robert D. McFadden, New York Times, 10 June 2024
Charli Carpenter, Foreign Affairs, 28 Mar. 2011
Snufkin’s instruments are particularly crucial to the pacifist game’s main conflict — destroying the Park Keeper’s tidy parks.
—Ashley Bardhan, Vulture, 8 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for pacifist 
Noun
Rankin was a lifelong pacifist who campaigned for social and electoral reform.
—Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
Both parents were ardent foes of racial inequality, his mother as a pacifist, his father carrying a gun.
—Robert D. McFadden, New York Times, 10 June 2024
Adjective
Jeane Kirkpatrick, President Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy adviser and later U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was never known for pacifist views.
—Charli Carpenter, Foreign Affairs, 28 Mar. 2011
Snufkin’s instruments are particularly crucial to the pacifist game’s main conflict — destroying the Park Keeper’s tidy parks.
—Ashley Bardhan, Vulture, 8 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for pacifist
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pacifist
Noun
-
Want to attract more doves and blue jays to the garden?—
Lauren David,
Southern Living,
20 Dec. 2024
-
With the North Stars leading 47-9, Posada dove on the floor against three Hawks and managed to get a jump ball.—
Matt Le Cren,
Chicago Tribune,
16 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
While the gaze in Freud’s painting is fairly neutral, the gaze in Paul’s painting is not.—
Karl Ove Knausgaard,
The New Yorker,
27 Jan. 2025
-
Most countries were of a mind to try to stay neutral between the two powers and maintain good relations with both Washington and Beijing.—
Quico Toro,
The Atlantic,
27 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
In Khartoum, the film tracks the period after the military coup in 2021 that usurped the people’s peaceful revolution that ended 30 years of dictatorship.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
31 Jan. 2025
-
Now, a whole new crop of actors, except for Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda coming from Hawaii, are playing in Mike White’s world of colorful characters getting up to the most stressful situations on what should be the most peaceful vacations.—
Savannah Salazar,
Vulture,
31 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
The second time, in 1937, the Court ruled, 5-4, that Herndon's conviction for attempting to incite insurrection violated his rights to free speech and peaceable assembly.—
John Yoo and John Shu,
Newsweek,
24 Jan. 2025
-
Military comedies have a long and relatively peaceable history on screens small and large — Fred Astaire, Bob Hope, Abbott and Costello, Martin and Lewis and Bill Murray all made them.—
Robert Lloyd,
Boston Herald,
6 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Xi must know that old societies tend to be pacific and that China is getting old fast.—
Josh Hammer,
Newsweek,
23 Dec. 2024
-
Choose between two rich colors: pacific blue or yarrow gold.—
Sydney Gore,
Architectural Digest,
10 Sep. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near pacifist
Cite this Entry
“Pacifist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pacifist. Accessed 6 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share