nonviolent
Americanadjective
-
not violent; free of violence.
-
peacefully resistant, as in response to or protest against injustice, especially on moral or philosophical grounds.
Other Word Forms
- nonviolently adverb
Etymology
Origin of nonviolent
Vocabulary lists containing nonviolent
We're not asking, we're demanding: Vocabulary from "Selma," the movie
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: non-
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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 nonviolent escalation leaves room for more talks, but will likely push oil prices higher in the interim.”
From MarketWatch • Apr. 12, 2026
The Yellow Vests were mostly nonviolent and had little or no experience of mass mobilization.
From Salon • Mar. 28, 2026
The group had gathered at the Quaker Meeting House in Westminster for what was billed as "nonviolent direct action training".
From BBC • Mar. 5, 2026
But starting in 2020 any public display of remembrance, however quiet and nonviolent, was banned.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026
That Sunday evening Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wired President Kennedy from Atlanta, telling him he was going to Birmingham to plead with blacks to remain nonviolent.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
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.
