dovish
Americanadjective
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(especially of a person in public office) advocating peace, compromise, or a conciliatory national attitude.
Mr. Weizman made his name as one of Israel's most celebrated fighting men, yet he worked to transform himself into a dovish politician.
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Economics. advocating low interest rates or other monetary policies aimed at reducing unemployment rather than inflation.
With the jobless rate in double digits, the same dovish remarks can be expected from other Federal Reserve officials.
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like or resembling a dove or any of the bird’s typical features or behaviors.
The sofa fabric is a soft dovish gray.
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Etymology
Origin of dovish
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How does dovish compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Someone who's dovish favors political policies that promote peace, rather than conflict with other countries. A dovish president is more likely to sign peace treaties than to start a war. While dovish can mean simply "peaceful and innocent," it's much more common to find it in political writing or speech, particularly in contrast to hawkish. Dovish advisors and cabinet members can influence a government to strive for peaceful resolutions to conflict, while hawkish politicians tend to favor aggressive policies. This political meaning dates from the 1960s.
Vocabulary lists containing dovish
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That hawkish faction clashed with a dovish press conference from Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, creating uncertainty about the Fed’s next moves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
That has seen the U.S. rates market almost fully retrace the dovish repricing that followed last week’s softer inflation numbers, says Tony Sycamore, market strategist at IG Markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The announcement comes after North Korea has repeatedly spurned South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's dovish overtures, labelling Seoul its "most hostile" enemy and declaring itself an "irreversible" nuclear state.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Tim Duy, the chief U.S. economist at SGH Macro Advisors, agrees that if Warsh sounds dovish at his maiden press conference on Wednesday, stocks will be racing higher.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026
Johnson griped, “That military genius, McNamara, has gone dovish on me.”
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
