noun
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a person who supports pacifism
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a person who refuses military service
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pacifist
From the French word pacifiste, dating back to 1905–10. See pacific, -ist
Explanation
A person who opposes the use of war or violence to settle a dispute is called a pacifist. If you are a pacifist, you talk through your differences with others instead of fighting. A pacifist is a peacemaker — even its Latin origins of pax, or "peace" and facere, "to make" show it. If you are a pacifist, you avoid physical confrontations. The beliefs and actions of peacemakers can also be described as pacifist, as in someone whose pacifist beliefs lead him to take part in nonviolent protests against a war.
Vocabulary lists containing pacifist
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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.
See Examples For:
But Parker was no pacifist, and he was equipped to act accordingly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Nimbly, it manages to be both a pacifist film and a subversive one with no faith in the system as it stands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Japan has been gradually moving away from its post-World War II pacifist status -- increasing military spending, ramping up defence pacts and deploying missile launchers to its outer islands.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
Miyazaki is a noted pacifist, but “Princess Mononoke” is his most humanist work.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
A small country, forced to live by its wits, its foreign policy contained a strong pacifist element.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Criticized by Yankee pacifists for resorting to violence, Clay replied, “how then can you ask me to go unarmed and yet manfully vindicate those doctrines which every where have been denounced with death?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
And such a recognition wasn’t confined to pacifists but extended to policymakers.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2025
Both are pacifists who raised their children at the kibbutz, where everybody knows their neighbors.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 6, 2023
"These people are not pacifists; they have intentionally or otherwise become pawns of the aggressor," Wang wrote.
From Reuters ● Oct. 12, 2023
The guards, some of whom had previously identified themselves as pacifists, fell quickly into the role of hard-bitten disciplinarians.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
